AI Is Poised to Remake Culture

As algorithms evolve from recommending content to generating it, the cultural floodgates are opening—raising questions about originality, agency, and trust. Writer Joshua Rothman chronicles how AI systems now shape daily information diets and even produce bespoke “podcasts,” while creators use tools like Runway to spin up surreal sketches on minimal budgets. Technologists such as Jaron Lanier warn that hyper-personalized “live synthesis” could dissolve shared culture into illusory, tailor-made experiences, and filmmaker Daniel Kwan urges guardrails on photorealistic AI to protect consensus truth. The essay juxtaposes machine-made commentary with encounters with human-made art, arguing that AI will expand cultural supply but sharpen the premium on authenticity, community, and work that makes people genuinely care.

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