The Last Journalists: Truth vs AI in the Age of Manufactured Reality

As machines master the narrative, does journalism faces extinction?

Is AI Destroying Journalism?

We are living in dangerous times. The profession of journalism is being hollowed out, and with it, the gatekeeping that once demanded knowledge, experience, and a deep understanding of the world. In its place? A smooth, frictionless pipeline of content created by AI—making it easier than ever for the powers that be to manufacture consent through fake narratives.

You no longer need historical insight, geopolitical literacy, or even a basic sense of ethics to call yourself an international journalist. All you need is access to the right tools—and AI will do the rest.

Let me give you an example. I know an American-born, Russian journalist—he’s more of a TikTok blogger, really. Yes, he reports from the ground, and yes, sometimes he simply shows what he sees. But often, he puts out content that is factually shaky or outright misleading. Still, with a large following and a slick team behind him, he appears credible.

Lately, he’s been “reporting” on tensions between India and Pakistan. But if you asked him to explain the roots of the Kashmir conflict, or even name Jinnah or Nehru, he’d likely blink in confusion—or guess they were names of exotic cocktails. Yet thanks to AI, he can generate a convincing summary of the conflict in seconds. He doesn’t need to know anything. He just needs a few prompts, a camera, and a platform.

So here’s the question that haunts me: how do we tell the difference between journalism born of lived experience and knowledge, and content conjured by machines? Does it even matter anymore?

I’ve spent years researching history, studying geopolitics, and trying to understand the complex architecture of global relations. But now I wonder—does any of it count? Someone can just type in a few keywords, and out comes a detailed, convincing article. Has journalism become a game of prompt engineering?

Because if that’s true, then the real power lies with those who program the AI. Take the India-Pakistan conflict—depending on whether the AI was trained on pro-Indian or pro-Pakistani narratives, that’s the version you’ll get. No nuance. No context. No soul. Just a polished, pre-digested version of events. AI has become the storyteller.

I remember something an Aboriginal elder once told me in Australia in my younger years. I had the rare privilege of learning from a few who still carried the wisdom of the ancients. One of them once said to me, “Everything is about storytelling.” In ancient cultures, the shaman was the storyteller. That’s how knowledge, wisdom, and truth were passed down.

Now we’ve handed that sacred responsibility to machines.

Maybe this is the end of something deeply human. Maybe it’s the end of our ability to tell stories that carry the weight of lived experience. In today’s world, you can be a clueless, well-funded moron and still be hailed as a top-tier reporter—just because you have AI doing your storytelling for you.

And let’s face it: in a society addicted to screens and TikTok reels, the language of AI feels real. It vibes. People don’t even question where the story comes from.

I always said: The Matrix wasn’t a movie. It was a documentary.

We should all be very careful about where this AI path is taking us.