Instagram CEO warns: The AI content boom is eroding authenticity

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes how images and videos are created, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri is warning of a future where telling what is real online will no longer be straightforward.

In a series of end-of-year posts shared on Instagram and Threads, Mosseri reflected on the state of photos, videos, and authenticity on social media amid what he described as a growing flood of AI-generated content. At the heart of his message is a clear concern: the signals people once relied on to trust what they see online are beginning to break down.

According to Mosseri, one of the biggest risks Instagram faces is not just competition or changing formats, but the speed at which the world itself is evolving. Looking ahead to 2026, he points to a major shift already underway. “Authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible,” he wrote.

“Everything that made creators matter – the ability to be real, to connect, to have a voice that couldn’t be faked – is now accessible to anyone with the right tools,” Mosseri said. With deepfakes improving rapidly and AI now capable of generating photos and videos that are increasingly indistinguishable from captured media, the idea of visual proof is weakening.

Mosseri connects this shift to the internet’s earlier power transfer from institutions to individuals once the cost of distributing information dropped to nearly zero. “Individuals, not publishers or brands, established that there’s a significant market for content from people,” he noted.

At the same time, trust in institutions is at an all-time low. As a result, people have increasingly turned to self-captured content from creators they trust and admire. While frustration around what is often labelled “AI slop” is widespread, Mosseri argued that not all AI content is low quality. “There’s a lot of amazing AI content,” he said.

However, even high-quality AI imagery still carries visible tells.

“Even the quality AI content has a look,” Mosseri observed, pointing to overly smooth skin and overly slick visuals. That, he warned, is temporary. “That will change. We're going to see more realistic AI content.”

Rather than making creators irrelevant, Mosseri believes this shift could make authenticity more valuable. As it becomes harder to tell what is real, demand for trusted voices may grow. “The bar is shifting from ‘can you create?’ to ‘can you make something that only you could create?’” he wrote.

Mosseri also challenged long-held perceptions of Instagram itself. For many users, particularly those over 25, the platform is still associated with a feed of polished, square photos. “That feed is dead,” he stated.

He explained that people stopped sharing personal moments on the public feed years ago. Today, the primary mode of sharing is through direct messages. “Blurry photos and shaky videos of daily experiences. Shoe shots and unflattering candids now dominate how users document their lives."

This raw aesthetic has increasingly spilt into public content. In that context, Mosseri believes parts of the imaging and camera industries are optimised for the wrong looks. “They’re competing to make everyone look like a pro photographer from 2015,” he said.

In a world where AI can generate flawless imagery instantly, that professional look becomes a giveaway.

“Flattering imagery is cheap to produce and boring to consume,” Mosseri argued. Instead, imperfection has become meaningful. “In a world where everything can be perfected, imperfection becomes a signal.”

Rawness, he added, is no longer just an aesthetic choice. “Rawness isn’t just aesthetic preference anymore; it's proof. It’s defensive. A way of saying, “This is real because it’s imperfect.”

However, Mosseri does not see this approach as a permanent solution. AI, he acknowledged, will eventually be able to generate any aesthetic, including imperfect ones that convincingly appear authentic. When that happens, the focus will need to shift again. “We’ll need to shift our focus to who says something instead of what is being said.”

Reflecting on the pace of change, Mosseri noted that for most of his life, photos and videos could largely be assumed to be accurate records of real moments. “This is clearly no longer the case, and it’s going to take us years to adapt,” he wrote.

He expects users to move from default belief to default scepticism. Instead of assuming what they see is real, people will increasingly question who is sharing something and why. “This will be uncomfortable. We're genetically predisposed to believing our eyes,” he said.

Platforms like Instagram, Mosseri added, will continue working to identify and label AI-generated content. But as AI improves, that task will get harder. “It will be more practical to fingerprint real media than fake media,” he suggested, pointing to solutions like cryptographic image signing at capture.

Ultimately, Mosseri argued that labels alone will not be enough. “We need to surface much more context about the accounts sharing content so people can make informed decisions,” he wrote.

In a world of “infinite abundance and infinite doubt”, he believes the creators who stand out will be those who can maintain trust by being real, transparent and consistent.