S6 [Becoming Image] E5: The image that’s tired [w/Ruby Justice Thelot]

What does it mean to have more AI generated images online than images created by humans? Should we resist constant uptime, visibility, and acceleration? And do we need to rethink reality in the age of AI when ‘default fakeness’, ‘flippening’ and ‘image amnesia’?

In the final episode, I’m joined by designer, artist and cyberethnographer Ruby Justice Thelot alongside artist Nina Davies to explore how AI image generation is reshaping the political role of images. Together we discuss the diminishing “sticking power” of images, the legal limits of photography as evidence, the long history of image manipulation, desire-driven virality, and the tactics that make real events appear AI-generated. Ruby introduces the concept of “necromimetics,” arguing that generative “slop” can neutralise an image’s capacity to enact symbolic death. We close with a conversation on marketing, trend forecasting, Meta glasses, and why “life admin” parties might be the future.