The Flavors of Authenticity

In a Gen-AI world, it’s increasingly important to make some distinctions

Anything made by graphic means is a picture, and if it is made with a camera it is a photograph. Distinctions finer than this are required by relatively few people.

— Minor White

In 1974, when Minor White wrote this, photographic interactions were far simpler than they are today. Now, 50 years later, when we are inundated with images and all of us are picture-takers, finer distinctions are more relevant. First with Photoshop, and now with Gen-AI, we all might enjoy more ways to think about authenticity, and what we expect from our images.

James Gilmore and Joseph Pine, well-known authors and economists, approach the concept of authenticity from a consumer perspective, particularly focusing on the experiences and products they engage with. In their book “Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want” (2007) authenticity is gauged by two primary questions: “Is it true to itself?” and “Is it what it says it is?”

This forms what they called a Real/Fake Matrix — a 4-way grid of “flavors” of authenticity:

What was particularly useful in Gilmore and Pine’s breakdown was their acknowledgment that all retail businesses are constructed and, at a fundamental level…