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An acclaimed philosophy book that tackled the dangers of digital manipulation has sparked a public reckoning after its supposed author turned out to be entirely fictional and partly the product of artificial intelligence.
In December 2024, a philosophy book was published in Italian under the name of a philosopher called Jianwei Xun. The book is titled “Ipnocrazia: Trump, Musk e La Nuova Architettura Della Realtà” (“Hypnocracy: Trump, Musk, and the New Architecture of Reality”), and explores themes of digital manipulation and multiple realities.
In April, Italian magazine L’Espresso attempted to arrange an interview with Xun — only to discover that he doesn’t exist. The publication revealed that the supposed author was actually a fictional persona created by Andrea Colamedici, a well-known Italian philosopher and essayist who was credited in the book merely as its translator.
Colamedici later confirmed that he had designed Xun as part of a conceptual project. The actual text was crafted using a combination of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Claude, which he used not to automate writing but to simulate philosophical inquiry.
AI collaboration framed as critique
“I didn’t ask the machine to write for me,” Colamedici explained in an interview with WIRED; instead, he used the AI tools to generate ideas, then wrote the drafts himself. Next, he fed the drafts into ChatGPT and Claude and asked the AI models to critique them, in order to explore other perspectives. However, Colamedici admitted that “at the same time, I couldn’t have generated this concept without AI” and called his relationship with the tools a “creative codependency.”
Colamedici said that he chose the title “Hypnocracy” because various technologies, including artificial intelligence, are influencing people’s states of consciousness. “Today, Trump and Musk multiply realities with AI. The technology allows us to create infinite narratives, parallel versions of the world, and they play with that. It’s no longer about hiding the truth by taking it off the table, but about piling so many lies on the table that the truth is drowned out,” he said.
Public reaction prompts philosophical reflection
Colamedici said many readers were “hurt” when they learned the real identity behind Xun, or that the book was written using generative AI tools. They felt connected to the nonexistent author and wished that he existed, even though he’s a creation of Colamedici’s imagination.
While the philosopher says that he “deeply regrets” hurting his readers, he also maintains that it was necessary to write and publish the book this way. Colamedici told WIRED that, “It’s not just a book, but a philosophical experiment… It’s not that the AI wrote this book, it’s an investigation into ideas of authorship and truth.”
Colamedici plans to continue experimenting with AI and said he may publish future works under the name Xun, primarily when AI models are involved. He added that Xun would not be his only alter ego, as Colamedici intends to explore other identities and methods for engaging with emerging technologies in literature.
