The Department of Truth

The year is 2028. Generative AI has proved not to be an effective tool to increase the productivity of humans and have not found a large scale paying audience. So, to recoup their investments, tech companies have turned their attention to using AI models to create millions of online content providers, services and products which generate income through ads or subscriptions.

This has led to a wave of products and services which are entirely run by AI agents. Because they need no labour to run, they can run very cheaply and can exist with much higher product error margins. They can also be autonomously created on a whim to serve new audiences as they appear. This has led to the overall quality degradation of almost everything consumers interact with digitally.

In almost all cases these products and services are being developed outside of Australia and there is little the government can do about closing them down. So instead, the government has shifted their thinking to: how can we live with a lower baseline of truth and trust?

To assist with this, the Australian Federal Government has formed a new government authority: The Australian Trust Authority. Amongst other initiatives, this Authority employs Australians in every town to consume services and make a judgement call on whether what they are looking at has been made by a human or an AI agent.

The Authority publishes regional Digital Content Advice which is used to inform consumers about how safe it is to use digital content or online services at any given time. This advice is also used to allocate other government resources in their fight against AI slop and those that seek to use it for commercial gains.