Marana, Arizona
“What is real?” It’s a question humanity has grappled with since antiquity. Yet in an era of AI-generated media, augmented realities, and curated online personas, determining authenticity has never been more urgent or elusive.
That quest for the genuine is why Merriam-Webster has just named “authentic” the 2023 Word of the Year. Lookups spiked this year as society questioned issues of originality, authorship, and identity. What does it mean to be real when chatbots can craft seamless conversations and influencers project glamorous false images?
“A high-volume lookup most years, authentic saw a substantial increase in 2023,” the dictionary stated, citing drivers like AI and social media. While authenticity remains desirable, Merriam-Webster acknowledged it “is hard to define and subject to debate.”
The haziness surrounding authenticity speaks to modern struggles for truth and self-expression. Conversational AI like ChatGPT displays eloquence belying its lack of lived experience. Augmented realities blur physical and simulated. Instagram feeds showcase idealized bodies and lives. Follower counts and engagement mask the purchased illusion of popularity.
Celebrity culture elevates the relatable and candid while marginalized groups demand representation true to their realities across media. Authenticity encompasses originality, accuracy, and vulnerability – absent in much of the curated digital world.
By naming authentic Word of the Year for 2023, Merriam-Webster crystallized an escalating cultural reflection. Technologies and online spaces feeding into self-image, creativity, and communication have also given rise to artifice and deception. More than ever, society wrestles with assessing what and who to trust in this era of deepfakes, constructed influencer fame, augmented spaces, and conversational bots.
Yet the desire to determine what is real persists as a core human drive. Not because we expect definitive answers – authenticity intrinsically resists concrete definition – but because nurturing relationships and societies relying on integrity and truth remains an immutable need. For that reason, the search for authenticity will continue as technologies grow more advanced and identities more curated. Because living in illusion may simplify life, but shared reality creates meaningful human connection.
As always, thank you for reading. Regardless of where technology and media lead our shared realities in the future, it is those willing to thoughtfully reflect that give us hope. Your openness to considering what constitutes genuine human connection and expression keeps that conversation alive. There are often more questions than answers, but progress depends first on asking the meaningful questions – something you model through your readership. For that openness to complexity and commitment to growth, we are thankful. Please know that you, as the reader, are what makes writing to explore life’s deepest issues most rewarding. With gratitude for you, until next time!
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