There was a time when a photo or a video meant something simple: this actually happened. Today, that assumption is quietly falling apart. We’re entering an era where reality can be generated, faces can be borrowed, voices can be cloned, and events can be convincingly fabricated in minutes. Not as science fiction, not as satire—but as everyday tooling. This episode isn’t about panic or moral grandstanding. It’s about what happens when trust becomes optional. When proof becomes negotiable. When institutions, media, courts, and even personal relationships must operate under the assumption that what they see might not be real—and that real evidence might be dismissed as fake. Synthetic reality doesn’t just blur lines between truth and fiction; it shifts the burden of proof onto everyone, all the time. And the consequences of that shift are far more serious than most people realize.
