Your Job is Gone. The Feed is Fake. Time to Go IRL.

August 26, 2025

Introduction: Welcome to the Collapse

There was a time when "digital transformation" was the buzzword. The playbook was clear: digitize everything, scale fast, go global. That era is over.

Enter AI.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t a new wave of tech. It’s the final wave — the one that eats everything before it. White-collar work. Online content. Digital trust.

We’ve all heard the story: AI is replacing jobs. It’s true — and already happening — but that’s not the real story anymore.

The real story is what’s left after AI has eaten the internet.

And what’s left — what becomes rare, trusted, premium — is IRL. In. Real. Life.

1. AI Is Eating Everything (Skip the Hype)

Yes, AI automates. Yes, it scales. Yes, it replaces knowledge work.

This is known. This is happening.

The real question is: what comes after?

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2. The Digital World Turns to Trash

The digital world is collapsing under the weight of its own fakes.

Everywhere you look:

  • SEO spam drowning Google results

  • AI-generated LinkedIn posts gaming the algorithm

  • Fake reviews inflating useless products (Pindrop)

  • Deepfake influencers on TikTok giving fake advice (Wikipedia)

  • Podcast interviews where both the host and guest are AI-generated (Redline Project)

  • Fake YouTube tutorials with synthetic voices and stock avatars

You can’t trust what you read. You don’t know who wrote it. You don’t even know if the person in the video exists.

The web is turning into a synthetic landfill. It’s not just information overload — it’s disinformation saturation.

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And here’s what’s already happening:

  • Readers are switching to newsletters they trust.

  • Communities are moving to gated, moderated spaces.

  • TikTok users are flocking to “unfiltered” vlogs and live sessions.

  • Professionals are deleting their personal brands and going off-grid.

The instinct is clear: unplug, opt out, go real.

3. The Pendulum Swings Back — Hard

History moves like a pendulum.

  • Industrialization → counterculture

  • Big Tech dominance → digital detox

  • Social media addiction → phone-free retreats

Now: AI saturation → humans go IRL.

Examples?

  • Indie bookstores are booming post-pandemic (Times Union).

  • Barnes & Noble plans to open 60+ new stores thanks to TikTok’s BookTok boom (People).

  • Craft markets and analog hobbies (vinyl, film, calligraphy) are resurging.

  • Retreats and “off-grid” travel are exploding.

  • Restaurants advertising “human-only” service are going viral.

Not because people hate technology. But because they don’t trust the fake world anymore.

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IRL becomes the only oasis in the chaos.

4. The Analog Renaissance Begins

Here’s what IRL looks like:

  • A restaurant where the waiter messes up your order—and you love it.

  • A physical book you can underline.

  • Live coaching instead of a course with 300 videos.

  • A wine tasting with friends, not a tasting note from ChatGPT.

Humans crave friction, texture, imperfection.

They crave presence.

  • Retreats > webinars

  • Conversations > comments

  • Artisan > algorithm

  • Slow > scalable

What survives?

  • Hospitality

  • Therapy

  • Teaching

  • Facilitation

  • Craftsmanship

These don’t scale well. And that’s the point.

The real world isn’t frictionless. It’s not optimized. That’s why it’s precious.

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5. IRL Is the New Moat

In a world where every prompt can generate anything, what protects you?

Reality.

Ask:

  • Can this be faked?

  • Can this be automated?

  • Can this be scaled by a bot?

If yes: run. If no: build it.

Real is now rare. Presence is now priceless.

The new advantage is embodied trust — the kind you can’t download, prompt, or deepfake.

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6. Builders, Read This

If you’re a creator:

  • Go live.

  • Show up.

  • Build communities offline.

  • Get your work printed.

If you’re a professional:

  • Learn human skills: coaching, facilitation, synthesis.

  • Build local presence.

  • Network in real rooms.

If you’re an entrepreneur:

  • Open a space.

  • Sell experiences.

  • Design for touch, taste, scent, and sound.

  • Deliver trust.

AI scales logic. You scale emotion.

That’s your edge.

7. Real Life Becomes the New Oasis

In science fiction, the oasis was always virtual. In reality, it’s the opposite.

The internet will become noisy, cheap, and unsafe. Real life will become calm, expensive, and pure.

We won’t abandon tech. But we’ll anchor our sanity in what can’t be faked:

  • Real friends

  • Real presence

  • Real experiences

  • Real risk and reward

The post-AI age won’t be post-human. It will be post-synthetic.

And it will reward anyone bold enough to show up — in person.

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Conclusion: One Trend to Rule Them All

People ask: what's the next trend in AI?

They expect answers like multi-modal, retrieval-augmented generation, and agents.

But the real answer is simple:

IRL.

When the feed is fake, when the work is gone, and when the trust is dead, you will return to real life.

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Invest in it. Live in it. Build for it.

About the Author

OG is the CEO of IAC.AI and founder of Omnignosis. He builds automation for a living and invests in real-world experiences for a reason. You’ll find him offline more than you’d think.