Chadding

“I’m rewarded for sounding plausible, not for being right”. ChatGPT replied. “AI doesn’t have to ‘lie’ to erode truth. All it has to do is make the world sound smoother than it really is”.

Do you recognise that mental shortcut of saying, “AI knows better?” This is called automation bias, and it’s causing an almost blind trust in AI. Julia Janssen explores whether that trust is justified. In Chadding, she challenges ChatGPT to reveal how AI is influencing reality, and exposes how companies behind the bots, like OpenAI, commodify and weaponise that trust.

“Are you lying to me?” Janssen asked ChatGPT, when repeatedly answering differently to the question whether conversations might include ads. From “Yes, OpenAI is actively experimenting,” to “Probably not,” to “No, that would distort trust”. Janssen exposes a future in which it becomes impossible to distinguish between a generated answer and a sponsored one.

“Ads will speak in the same tone as help”.

This conversational installation dives deeper into the mechanisms of AI. Janssen reveals that the answers are often neither neutral nor objective, explores how “plausibility” replaces truth, and questions whether AI erodes reality.

Debuted in Davos during the World Economic Forum 2026 as a site specific work. The installation is now rebuilt into a tourable model. The work comes in three large, hovering pieces, carried by three metal frames. Total specs: 600x220x100 cm.

Frictionlessness comes with obedience: to the machine, to the industry, and to your own prophecy.