AI Is Flooding the Internet With Lies — Blockchain Is the Only Way to Prove the Truth
AI isn’t just bending the truth, it’s shattering reality. From deepfake videos to forged research, its lies are everywhere.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. With AI now being used to manipulate election results, undermine the credibility of the fourth estate and even tamper with legal evidence, we are rapidly losing our grip on reality. Truth now lies in the hands of a few tech giants, authoritarian leaders, radical hackers and down-and-out criminals looking for a quick buck.
And there’s no universal way to prove what’s real.
That’s where blockchain comes in. Unlike the closed “content authenticity” tools created by the likes of Meta and Google, blockchain technology creates a public, tamper-proof record – a permanent tracker that can be attached to any piece of content the moment it’s made. Think of it as a digital birth certificate: it records the creator of the file, the date it was created, any changes made and any transaction of ownership, all on a decentralized ledger that no nefarious party can alter.
And yet, the blockchain technology best suited to fight back is still widely dismissed as a playground for libertarians, scammers and crypto-bros. It’s a reputation that’s been earned. The last decade has seen a parade of pump-and-dump schemes, NFT grifts and spectacular collapses like FTX. But to write off the underlying infrastructure because of its worst actors is to miss the bigger picture.
Blockchain isn’t just for the crypto-bros. It’s for those of us who still place value on memory, evidence, trust and transparency. Above all else, blockchain is the most powerful weapon we have in our arsenal – a vital tool that can help us create a new, post-AI reality where facts cannot be rewritten.
Just imagine a world where every photo, video, article or dataset comes with a cryptographic seal – a timestamped ledger entry that verifies its origin and tracks its journey. Not a watermark that can be cropped out or a metadata tag that can be forged, but a public record that anyone can inspect and no one can tamper with. It’s not science fiction; it’s blockchain.
Of course, it’s not a silver bullet. Blockchain won’t stop bad actors from creating fake content. But it can make it exponentially harder for them to pass it off as real. It can give journalists, researchers, lawyers and everyday citizens a way to verify online content. It can shift the burden of proof back onto the creators of content, rather than the consumers. And in doing so, it can restore trust to the digital world.
The irony is that the very decentralization that made blockchain so chaotic in its early years is now its greatest strength. Unlike the AI models being trained behind closed doors by trillion-dollar companies, blockchain is open-source, transparent and resistant to censorship. It doesn’t demand trust in a single entity, nor permission from a few select gatekeepers. It distributes trust across a network. That’s precisely what we need when truth itself is under siege.
Governments are starting to wake up to this. The US Senate has held hearings on digital provenance, while the European Union has floated proposals to watermark AI-generated content. But their intervention would drag us back into the centralized authorities that blockchain was created to avoid.
Instead of resorting back, we must move forwards, turning today’s technologies to our advantage.
The biggest challenge now is to reclaim blockchain from the wreckage of its reputation. That means separating the technology from the hype. It means investing in public-good applications rather than speculative tokens. It means building tools that are usable, scalable and accessible to people outside the crypto bubble. And it means recognizing that the fight for truth in the AI era isn’t just about regulation or ethics. It’s about creating a whole new infrastructure.
Take, for example, the newly announced Immaculata Living project on Chicago’s lakeshore. The university-backed real-estate development is the first of its kind to be exclusively backed by crypto-currency, with its focus on social impact appealing to a broad spectrum of investors. Once complete, Immaculata will provide 437 premium apartments in a prestigious location, half of which will be fully equipped for senior living. The American Islamic College, which owns the land to be developed, will offer full access to its extensive programme of lectures and debates, while also encouraging Immaculata’s residents to participate in its intergenerational mentoring scheme.
Without blockchain technology, facilitated by Nexera in partnership with Neem Capital, Immaculata would not be possible. But, thanks to the Wyoming’s provisions for the establishment of a ‘decentralized autonomous organization’, its shareholders will be granted the same voters’ rights that would be expected from any other investment. They will be able to seamlessly convert their crypto assets into real-world impact, even qualifying for investor visas thanks to the jobs created by Immaculata’s offering, without ever liquidating their holdings.
Most importantly, every transaction will be recorded on-chain, creating a transparent, secure and compliant system. Ultimately, it provides the perfect blueprint for how blockchain can rebuild civic life.
For a decade, we’ve treated blockchain as a threat. It’s time to see it as a defence — not against AI itself, but against AI’s power to erode reality. In a world where seeing is no longer believing, blockchain offers a truth we can trust.
Manuel Matos Dos Santos is the Manager of Closer Consulting, a data science company specialising in artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and business intelligence. He is also the Secretary-General of the Portuguese Atlantic Council and an elected member of the Junta de Alvalade. He previously served as the President of the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association’s Portuguese branch, where he promoted NATO’s values of freedom, democracy, pluralism and collective defense.
Photo by Magda Ehlers
