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True vs False Images
When the image becomes a gateway
Is AI a threat, a challenge, or an opportunity?
I have followed the development in image editing from Photoshop, through the very first versions of Midjourney, to Google’s Nano Banana, observing how a technology that has long existed behind closed doors is now being made available on a large scale. The question is no longer just what it can do – but how we choose to meet it.
If we feel that development has already moved quickly, we need to recognize that the pace from here will only accelerate. Technologies that have long been held back are now being released broadly, and the steps will come at an ever-increasing speed. This is the context we stand in today – a time when AI tools for, among other things, image creation are becoming freely available on a wide scale. I have tested several myself and been fascinated by how quickly and easily ideas can be transformed into images.
Where We Stand Now
Nano Banana is currently one of the most powerful, accessible, and user-friendly tools in this new wave. It is designed to understand language intuitively and transform short descriptions into finished images within seconds. It is no longer about complicated prompts (text instructions) – it is enough to write what you want to see, and the image takes form.
Unlike earlier tools, Nano Banana works with a refined understanding of both detail and context. A scene can be changed, a background replaced, or a completely new style applied – without the whole losing its identity. This creates a sense of continuity, like a thread that follows the image through each transformation.
Threat, Challenge, or Opportunity?
AI evokes a mix of emotions for many who work with photography, film, graphics, and image creation – both in front of and behind the camera and within the technical fields that support them. There is concern that work risks being devalued and replaced, that tasks which once required time, skill, and experience can now be done in minutes. But at the same time, there is also opportunity: to use these tools as support, to free up time, open new creative paths, and develop expressions that were previously difficult or impossible to manifest.
The question is not only what the technology can do – but how it is received and used. Those who allow the technology to become a partner rather than a replacement can find new ways forward. But it also requires us to see technology for what it is – a tool. AI is a technical intelligence – nothing more. In some circles it is more correctly referred to as TI. Its value depends entirely on how we choose to use it.
The Technology Revealed
As this technology now becomes available to many, it becomes clear that images and films have never been neutral. They have long been used deliberately in media to steer opinion, build narratives, and create a picture of reality that people accepted as true. Often these images were staged, edited, or manipulated – yet still bought as truth. The difference now is that the same possibilities are no longer reserved for newsrooms or production houses.
When anyone can create a hyper-realistic scene in seconds, manipulation is no longer hidden but visible to all. The image loses its role as indisputable proof and instead appears as a construction – sometimes true, sometimes distorted. This raises a crucial and awakening question: how do we cultivate discernment in a time when everything can be fabricated?
Seeing Beyond the Eye
This is something I have known for a long time, and the encounter with generated images made it even clearer. The eye’s wow quickly lost its shine – and that made me want to understand my own place in this shift. Why was I standing here with images that carry a field, side by side with the stream of AI-generated content?
I now see that truth can no longer be measured in sharpness or realism. It can only be felt in the inner response. Discernment is not born through analyzing pixels or technical details, but through noticing the emotional and intuitive resonance. For me, it is about seeing beyond the eye – listening to where an image speaks from, and what role I have in carrying that tone forward. This leads me to the next insight – what an image truly carries, beyond the subject itself.
The Image as Tone Carrier
From this perspective, my own view of creation changes. I no longer see images – whether born through my camera or through AI – as unique in their form. They are unique in their tone. Every image can be a gateway, a code, a reminder. The interesting part is not the subject itself, but the tone it carries. The resonance it awakens. I ask myself: what gateway does this image open? What direction does it point me toward? This is where its true power resides, in the presence that permeates it.
And perhaps it is here that the difference between true and false images arises. It is not the technology itself that decides, but the intention behind it. It is intention that colors the image, giving it a particular tone. An image created to mislead carries a different resonance than one created to open, explain, or remind. In this light, discernment is not only about what the eye sees, but about what the heart perceives.
The Heart’s Wow
In the end, the most important question remains:
What makes me stay with an image?
For me, it is no longer the instant spectacle. It is the slow afterglow. It is the feeling that lingers after the gaze has moved on. It is the heart’s wow – the recognition, the memory, the stillness. In a time when everything can be fabricated, this wow becomes even more significant. For the eye can be deceived, but the deeper knowing within us remains.
It reminds me that the purpose of an image is not to impress. It is to carry meaning, awaken memory, and open gateways to what we already recognize. And perhaps this is exactly where we now stand – not only I, but all of us – in the transition from chasing impressions to allowing images to carry what truly endures. It is the beginning of a new way of seeing, where more and more are invited to discover the heart’s wow as a shared direction forward. It is an invitation to us all to cultivate discernment – privately, professionally, and publicly.
Footnote: Nano Banana’s Strengths
Nano Banana offers several features that explain why it attracts so much attention:
- Language understanding – the system interprets descriptions in a natural way and transforms them into images with great precision. It feels like giving voice to a thought and watching it take shape.
- Preservation of identity and context – even when changing elements within the image, the feeling and wholeness remain. It is not just a technical rendering, but a continuity in expression.
- Step-by-step editing – instead of always starting over, you can continue working with the same image and build upon it. It resembles a process where each step deepens and nuances what has already been created.
- Style blending – different expressions, textures, and forms can be combined. The result is often something that could not have emerged otherwise, as if several voices share the same image.
- Speed and responsiveness – results come within seconds, making the process both fluid and immediate. The time between thought and manifestation shrinks drastically.
- Ethical transparency via watermarks (SynthID) – every image receives a marker showing that it is AI-generated. This is a step toward maintaining some form of distinction between the fabricated and the documented.
The landscape is changing rapidly, and features may shift – but for now, these are the tool’s clear strengths.
