Written by Caterina Moruzzi

The exhibition Authenticity Unmasked: Unveiling AI-Driven Realities Through Art was presented as part of the 2025 Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Informatics Forum of the University of Edinburgh between the 7th and 17th August 2025.  Authenticity Unmasked is the culmination of the CREA-TEC project (Cultivating Responsible Engagement with AI Technologies to Empower Creatives), led by Dr Caterina Moruzzi in collaboration with Adobe and supported by the Bridging Responsible AI programme (BRAID) with funds from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

The three commissioned artworks presented at the exhibit probe how Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshapes notions of authenticity, truth, and identity,  engaging audiences in questions such as: When do we care if content is authentic? What shapes our perception of digital truth? How can we foster trust in digital media?

The title of the exhibition, “Authenticity Unmasked”, signals its conceptual ambition: to expose where authenticity resides, both behind and beyond the technologies that mediate art. In traditional art historical practice, authenticity is traced through provenance, material history, and expert validation. Yet the proliferation of AI-generated content challenges these established markers. Digital works can be endlessly reproduced, remixed, or edited, often without attribution, complicating verification and diminishing the perceived authority of creators.

One possible solution is “provenance data.” This means attaching secure information about where a piece of media came from and how it’s been changed, even if it’s edited or reused later. Such systems are already being developed to fight misinformation, but they could also have a much wider impact, especially in creative fields beyond journalism. It is precisely this intersection that shaped Authenticity Unmasked, developed through a collaboration between researchers, artists, and industry partners including Adobe and the Adobe-led Content Authenticity Initiative, which promotes open standards to signal the provenance of digital content.

But defining standards for authenticity is far from straightforward. Authenticity is plural: what counts as authentic depends not only on technical traceability but also on individual interpretation, cultural norms, and the intended use of content. Authenticity Unmasked reflects this complexity, offering a space to think critically about when, how, and whether authenticity should be codified in digital systems.

Nearly 600 visitors engaged with the exhibition, considering how AI is reshaping perceptions of authenticity and trust. One remarked: “I’m glad to see a human response to AI. Hopefully this inspires more dialogue.” Others described the experience as “human-centred,” “a transparent way of seeing human and machine collaborate,” and something that “will have me thinking about authenticity for a while now.”

Rather than providing fixed answers, the three artworks function as open propositions. They invite visitors to examine their own thresholds of trust and the signals that inform how authenticity is perceived.

– The View from Above by Kinnari Saraiya examines the mediation of visual representation through AI, mapping technologies, and environmental systems. The work highlights how technologically framed perspectives influence our understanding of territory, power, and authority.

– Grokh Tung Tung by dmstfctn interrogates AI’s capacity to generate plausible but fictional narratives. By turning AI’s logic back on itself, the piece explores the fine line between fabrication and meaning, prompting reflection on the interpretive work required to discern authenticity.

– Mimetic Virtuosity by Georgia Gardner foregrounds embodiment as a defining aspect of artistic authenticity. Using classical music performance as its site of inquiry, the piece asks how generative technologies affect our perception of art and whether technical replication can substitute for human presence and intention.

Across these works, the exhibition demonstrates that AI both obscures and produces forms of authenticity. The tension lies in the medium itself: artists often anticipate the cultural and social impact of new technologies, experimenting with their affordances long before broader societal adaptation occurs. Here, the participating artists engage AI not merely as a tool but as a topic of critical inquiry, probing its limits, testing its logic, and highlighting the interpretive labour that continues to define authentic experience.

Authenticity Unmasked positions AI as both a mediator and a catalyst in debates over authenticity. By juxtaposing traditional markers of artistic authority with generative technologies that complicate attribution, the exhibit encourages critical reflection on the purpose, impact, and meaning of creative work in a post-authenticity context. In doing so, it offers a space to reconsider what it means for art, and, by extension, experience itself, to be authentic.

Photographs: Chris Scott