ChatGPT & Simulacra: Exploring Hyperreality in Pop Culture
Just because you can make a JPG of Pedro Pascal made entirely of cheese doesn't mean you should.
How many of your friends from your midwestern hometown sent you this image in a moment of pure glee and minor bewilderment -
The answer is more than one and probably also your mom and maybe your tech-savvy uncle.
The prevalence of unreality has reached a tipping point, leaving us overwhelmed and struggling to discern what is real and what is not. As we navigate a world where Zoom has become our primary mode of communication and we can build a goth Target in the metaverse, the line between reality and hyperreality grows increasingly blurred. In a society where the average American spends 7 hours and 4 minutes looking at screens, the conversation around simulation and reality becomes even more critical. At this point, it's worth asking ourselves: what is reality? Is our shopping cart on Ssense any less real than the one at Mulberry Market, aside from the shame of paying $10 for eggs?
Is the line between old and new technologies becoming blurred, or are we just holding onto outdated symbols for the sake of familiarity? Is the phone icon on our screens a tribute to the past or a way to make us feel more secure in our use of modern technology? As we navigate this ever-changing landscape, it's worth asking whether we're truly progressing or simply adapting to a new kind of reality. These moments always remind me of when we made fun of kids eight years ago for not knowing how to work a rotary phone.
Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation" explored the concept of hyperreality, where simulations become more real than reality itself. In 2023, with the API for ChatGPT going live last week, AI-generated simulacra are becoming increasingly realistic. From deep-fake videos to Mid Journey and DallE's image-generation capabilities, AI is changing the way we perceive reality, and this is unnerving for a myriad of reasons. It brings into question the very notion of what is real, hyperreal, and unreal. If the collective ‘we’ perceive a deep-fake to be real, does that make it real? If the government generates a statement from a foreign body using ChatGPT and tells the general public it’s authentic, where does the line between 'real' vs 'hyperreal' vs 'unreal' come into play?
Baudrillard would see this as an example of simulation and the construction of hyperreality. The media generated by the AI would be a hyperreal simulation that replaces the real, creating a version of reality that is mediated by the government's agenda and interests. The implications of this are that the general public's perception of reality would be shaped by the government's constructed hyperreality, and their understanding of the world would be distorted by this simulation.
Baudrillard would argue that this is a form of power and control, where the government has the ability to manipulate and shape the perceptions of the general public. This reinforces his theory that contemporary society is characterized by a proliferation of simulations and hyperreality, which have replaced the real and created a world of appearances and simulations.
Simulacra, in Baudrillard's view, are more than just simple copies or imitations; they are hyperreal representations that exist independently of any reality. They are not simply false representations of reality but are instead completely detached from reality. Simulacra create a world of their own, which is often more real than the world itself. For example, the representation of a city in a video game may be more real to a person than the actual city itself.
Simulation, on the other hand, refers to the process of creating or producing these copies. According to Baudrillard, simulation is the dominant mode of our contemporary society. The production of simulacra is not simply a passive process of copying, but an active process of constructing a hyperreal world that replaces the real world. In this hyperreal world, things no longer have any inherent value or meaning but are instead valued for their ability to signify or symbolize something else.
ChatGPT’s API has opened up new possibilities for AI-generated simulacra. With this API, developers can now use ChatGPT to generate text-based content that is almost indistinguishable from content written by humans. From chatbots to virtual assistants, AI-generated text is becoming more prevalent in our daily lives. If you aren’t worried about this yet Zapier has been aggressively identifying every possible way in which you can utilize this to allow for efficiencies. Meanwhile, DallE and Midjourney’s capabilities are also advancing rapidly. We began 2023 trying our best to understand how these party images weren’t ‘real’ and are now heading into April excited that the technology has figured out hands in the span of 2 months.
In the world of simulation, we’re playing with AI-generated models and the poor justifications for producing diverse imagery via technology. In the world of simulacra, we’re engaging in self-generating media that allows for endless viewership. “You don't just have seven seasons of a show, you have seven hundred, or infinite seasons of a show that has fresh content whenever you want it,” co-creators of the show, Skylar Hartle and Brian Habersberger told Motherboard in February.
Pop culture has always been a reflection of our society's values and concerns, and the prevalence of AI-generated simulacra is no exception. In the movie "Blade Runner 2049", AI-generated beings called replicants are so realistic that they are almost impossible to distinguish from humans. Similarly, in the TV show "Westworld", AI-generated hosts are so lifelike that they are used for entertainment and even sexual gratification. These examples demonstrate how AI-generated simulacra are becoming more integrated into our daily lives, and raise questions about the impact of these technologies on our perception of reality.
As AI-generated simulacra become more prevalent in pop culture, it is important to consider the potential impact of these technologies on our perception of reality. Baudrillard's warning about the dangers of hyperreality is more relevant than ever, as AI-generated simulations become more realistic and pervasive. It is up to us to critically evaluate the information and images we encounter and to question the boundaries between what is real and what is not.
Baudrillard would argue that there is no "true" reality, only simulations and hyperreality. In his view, the world is constructed through representations and signs, and our understanding of reality is mediated through these representations. Therefore, our perception of reality is not a direct reflection of the world itself, but rather a product of our cultural, social, and historical contexts.
