AI made this, but you aren't looking very human anymore.

While waiting for my flight back home after more than two weeks in Brazil, I’m trying to organize a few thoughts.

I’ve been working in digital analytics for over ten years. That means I suffer from a bit of professional hazard: when I go on vacation to a tourist spot, besides enjoying the scenery, I can’t help but watch how people try to “immortalize” the moment. For those in my field, there’s no magic; we know exactly what’s behind that like or that reel. Lately—and I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older or just plain saturated—I see people taking photos and videos in increasingly surreal ways. We know the rule: the more “original” or bizarre, the easier it is to go viral. But what’s really behind this? Behind it is an artificial algorithm that we, humans, voluntarily feed to scratch together a few followers, feel better about ourselves, or monetize attention.

During this trip, I also attended a wedding. The couple was young, in their early twenties. The vows part was very moving, but throughout the rest of the celebration, I couldn’t help but notice something uncomfortable: the bride and groom were more focused on how they would look in the photo or video than on what getting married actually means. My wife pointed out a devastating detail: even at the exact moment they said “I love you,” instead of looking into each other’s eyes, they stared fixedly at the paper where they had it written down. The camera angle mattered more than the other person’s gaze.

And all of this brings me to an uncomfortable conclusion: who is the artificial one here?

I recently read that if your content is AI-generated, you are required to put a label or a disclaimer warning people. I am not a native English speaker; I write in my language, use AI to translate it, and then ask for tweaks to adapt it to my tone. Think about it for a second. We trust our lives to a machine to prevent two planes from colliding, yet for a piece of text that someone is just going to read, you need a warning? I, a human generating content from real human thought, have to put up a disclaimer just because I rely on technology. Meanwhile, half the world fills social media with artificial, choreographed photos and videos that are anything but natural, designed exclusively so that a machine will rank them higher on its platform.

We demand transparency from artificial tools, but we consume completely robotized human lives. I don’t know about you, but to me, it seems like a blatant contradiction.