Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, has declared the platform's traditional 'polished' feed effectively 'dead' due to the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. In his year-end reflections for 2026, shared across Threads and Instagram, Mosseri emphasized that AI's ability to generate flawless images and videos has made perfection easily reproducible and, consequently, less valuable and 'boring to consume'. This profound shift challenges the long-held aesthetic of curated, high-contrast photography and perfectly edited visuals that once defined Instagram. Mosseri highlighted that authenticity is becoming an 'infinitely reproducible' resource, leading to a significant erosion of visual trust. Users can no longer assume that photographs or videos accurately reflect real moments, as synthetic media is increasingly difficult to distinguish from genuine captured content. In response to this 'AI slop' era, Mosseri advises creators to pivot towards a 'raw' and imperfect aesthetic, focusing on content that only they could create based on unique experiences and perspectives. The new benchmark for creators is not merely the ability to produce content, but to maintain trust and signal authenticity through genuine, unpolished, and original voices. Instagram is actively exploring strategies to address this challenge, including clear labeling of AI-generated content and potentially 'fingerprinting' real media at the point of capture to verify authenticity. The platform also aims to improve its ranking systems to prioritize and reward original content. This global shift signifies a fundamental change in how social media platforms and users will interact with visual content, emphasizing the critical need for new mechanisms to distinguish between human-created reality and sophisticated AI simulations.