Authenticating digital works without ‘detectors’

This builds on the ideas in my digital aura series, but I don’t think it’s necessary to have read it to follow along. I start by justifying why audiences want authentication of art and other cultural works, but AI detectors aren’t the best option — if you want to get straight to the theory, jump ahead. What do we mean by authenticity? In The Substance of Style, Virginia Postrel identifies three main meanings of authenticity (in terms of aesthetics): Purity — “the original form of something…is true and legitimate” (her example is the adaptation of Eero Saarinen’s TWA terminal into a hotel being seen as inauthentic) Tradition — “the way it’s always been done” (her examples are that 1) cultural appropriation — like a white person wearing kente cloth — is inauthentic, and 2) Formica is inauthentic as a building material compared to wood) Aura — demonstrating something’s personal history (her example is perceiving gray hair and wrinkles as authentic and hair dye and face-lifts as…