Everyone’s calling it AI. The movie clips, the weirdly soulful cover songs, the portraits that look more like us than we do.
AI wrote this. AI voiced that. AI put a puffer jacket on the Pope.
But intelligence doesn’t really capture what we’re seeing.
Because what we’re seeing feels less like thought—and more like mimicry. A convincing one. Lifelike, even. But still mimicry.
Run a prompt through Midjourney and you’ll get something stunning—technically brilliant, emotionally resonant, and empty. It doesn’t see the image. It doesn’t choose why to make her eyes tired or the sky a certain shade of longing. That’s just pattern without perspective. Repetition without risk.
Same with voice models. You can clone Morgan Freeman and have him narrate your grocery list, but nothing in that voice is aware of the words. It sounds like meaning. It isn’t.
Or take those AI-generated songs that hit Spotify for a week before getting pulled—some uncanny ballads in the voice of a dead artist, trained on their catalog like it’s raw material. They move us. But they’re not making choices. They’re not saying anything. It’s a replica built for mood.
This isn’t artificial intelligence. It’s artificial presence—machines designed to look and sound like they’re here with us. Like they care. But they don’t. Because they can’t.
That matters. Calling this “AI” gives the illusion of cognition where there’s only simulation. These systems can impress. They can even stir emotion. But they don’t believe. They don’t push back. They don’t care whether they’re right.
Real intelligence argues with itself. It hesitates. It surprises. These systems just continue the sequence.
So maybe it’s time to call it something else. Not for pedantry, but because words shape expectations. Keep calling it intelligence, and we’ll start responding as if it’s conscious—trusting, empathizing, giving it ground it hasn’t earned.
There’s nothing wrong with using these tools. Just don’t forget what they’re not.
This isn’t thought. It’s bio-mimicry for culture. A parrot trained on sentiment. A mirror tuned to our taste.
Synthography.
Impressive? Absolutely.
Intelligent? Not yet.