Real or AI? 15 Billion Fakes Are Making Us Doubt Our Own Eyes

There's no shortage of fake visuals today. In fact, sources suggest there are already more than 15 billion AI-generated images online. It's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between a camera lens and an algorithm, leading to what experts call the rise of AI slop.

The High Cost of Digital Distrust

The consequences of this digital flood aren't just academic. This past summer, an elderly couple fell victim to a scam involving an AI-generated video of a non-existent cable car ride in Malaysia called Kuak Skyride. As these fakes become indistinguishable from reality, people are starting to point at actual, breathtaking locations and dismiss them as computer-generated fantasies.

Mother Nature vs. The Machine

Netizens recently compiled a list of places that look so perfect, they're often mistaken for AI slop. Ireland's Giant’s Causeway, with its perfectly interlocking basalt columns, often tops the list. Similarly, the star-shaped city of Neuf-Brisach in France and the towering shelves of the Starfield Library in Suwon, South Korea, frequently trigger skepticism from online viewers who can't believe such geometry exists in the physical world.

Even historical oddities aren't safe. The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, decorated with the bones of nearly 40,000 people from the 13th to 15th centuries, looks like a dark fantasy asset from a video game, yet it stands as a testament to real medieval history.