For the most part, Gen X grew up in a pre-tech environment. No, the button on the back of Action Man that turned his eyes doesn’t count. Nor does the rocket-firing Boba Fett. Yes, okay, the Nintendo handheld c.1981 does—but only like the explosive taste of sherbert UFO sweets compares to an atom bomb.

In fact, Gemini Advanced Research estimates approximately 97.7% of the key technological domains defining an average individual’s experiences in 2025 were largely absent or existed only in fundamentally rudimentary and inaccessible forms during the formative years of Generation X (circa 1975-1995).

If we wanted to call home we had to queue to use a phone attached to a wall or go into a telephone booth. If we were invited into a meeting, it was in an actual room with humans and sometimes biscuits in it.

We inhabited the real world physically and intellectually, just as our human ancestors had.

As a result, our generation took identity for granted. When we spoke to someone on the phone, we didn’t question whether that person was really that person. Or a person at all.

Today, thanks to the criminals who use AI, presupposing humanity or human authorship puts people all over the world in danger.

We think that our new world should inform new assumptions:

People we see or meet online may be AI-generated deepfakes or AI-generated synthetics
People we see or meet online may not be human or fully human (real and deepfake splices)
Content we see or read online may not be made by a human

How do these assumptions change how you’ll interact online at work and at home?