What We're Reading: When America Tried to Ban Fake Photos
The coming year may see a growing backlash at artificial intelligence, noted Politico recently. The anti-AI reaction includes angst over data centers that provide the infrastructure for AI growth and the growing glut of fake content on social media-especially images. But public concern with fake imagery didn't begin with Photoshop or AI. More than 100 years ago, a doctored image of President William Taft nearly led to a national ban on fake photos. In 1912, a U.S. senator actually introduced a bill that would, in his words, "prohibit the making, showing or distributing of fraudulent photograph."
Weekend Update: 01.15.2026
Continuing: Billy Childish | keep the mojave weird at at Lehmann Maupin In his newest series based on a road trip in 2025, British painter, writer, and musician Billy Childish depicts the western United States in scenes from California. Seen together, the works occupy a space that is both contemporary and eternal, where each landscape feels familiar yet remote. From soaring mountain ranges, to arid desert, to verdant lakes, each image offers a narrative vignette th...

