“If people saw it and they immediately knew it was fake, then they would just scroll. The selling point of generative AI models is that they look real,” RadialB tells me over the phone. He refuses to share his real name but reveals he is in his 20s and from the north-west of England. He has never been to Croydon.

Social media was a mistake. The “creator economy” was a mistake. Everything was a mistake. We really fucked up.