How AI is making us question everything - or should be!

Fifty years later (almost to the day) that the genre-busting anthem topped the UK singles chart, Freddie Mercury's opening lyrics couldn't be more relevant - because I don't know about you, but I'm finding it harder these days to fathom what is the 'truth'.

In a world of 24 hour feeds delivered under ceaselessly-scrolling fingertips, we're exposed to levels of propaganda, disinformation and mind-mangling mischief which would make George Orwell ignite from the friction of revolving in his grave.

The expression 'Fake News' is in daily use. The current President of the United States has revelled in weaponising the term during press conferences to knock back any fact-based journalistic challenge.

Ironic really, as he is the promulgator of clearly false AI -generated images and videos, in which he is represented as a giant golden statue, a Jedi warrior, the Pope - and even dancing like John Travolta.

We've grown wise to Trump's attention-seeking memes; digitally-generated stunts straight out of the 'Boris Johnson dangling on a zipwire' playbook.

Yet however smart we think we are, we are not immune to viral fakery.

Did you see that extremely plausible film purporting to be shot above hurricane Melissa; camera peering through an aeroplane window into the eye of one of the biggest tropical cyclones ever recorded? Or the luxury cruise ship Aurelianian dumping plastic waste into the ocean? Maybe you've watched Prince William recommending (unwise) cryptocurrency investments? All fake.

Our timelines are populated using algorithmic curation; serving up more of what will keep us engaged and doomscrolling.

Knowing we've been regularly exposed to hoaxes, although often entertaining and easy to share, can eventually make us question everything we see online - we become part of the manipulation.

If something arrives in your timeline which seems either too good, too shocking or too preposterous to be true, it probably isn't.

And if you doubt your ability to separate the fake from the fact, there is an army of checkers and verifiers combing through the streams of artificially-created content to debunk/correct them as necessary.

Yet who does it harm, if we see made-up images of sharks swimming in flooded streets, or 'King' Donald Trump piloting a fighter jet and dropping excrement onto protesters?

According to the University of Exeter, fake news can have profound consequences which can potentially undermine the democratic process, give platforms to hate speech and harmful conspiracy theories, discredit science and lead to distrust in the media.

How can we survive all this slop, when even the venerable BBC was caught out editing a speech by Donald Trump, provoking his press secretary to describe the broadcaster as “100 per cent fake news"?

Let's take a break from our screens and step outside into the dependable Isle of Wight.

Rediscover the tangible. Walk barefoot on sand. Kick through autumn leaves. Commune with the moon.

As Queen exhorted, "Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see!"