Dead Internet Theory Is Very Much Alive

Image: Badly edited by author

Dead Internet Theory is the belief that the majority of internet posts, traffic and users have been replaced by bots and AI-generated content.

In other words — it's the idea that humans no longer shape the direction of the Internet.

There's a whole host of theories and conspiracies as to why this is happening; it's the government seeking to assert control over public opinion; it's shadowy organizations attempting to minimize organic human activity; it's our inability to put guardrails in place as we develop technology; it's a network of large conglomerates in conjunction with paid secret media influencers trying to manufacture consumers for an increasing range of newly-normalized cultural products.

Take from that what you will.

All sound as equally plausible as they do insane.

But there is no doubt that the Internet has been swamped with bots for years, which has slowly eroded the utility — and the joy! — of using it. Rather than fix it, we're now making it worse. AI is exacerbating the issues that are already damaging the Internet experience. These bots are no longer obvious to the even slightly seasoned Internet user — they are sophisticated, with their own profiles, content and even live streams. They can post and reply and seemingly engage, just like a human user does.

Perhaps the last remaining giveaway is how they comment, often just a variation of "this is interesting," over and over. Thanks for your input, bot.

As generative AI technology continues to improve and bots figure out how to comment with something half useful, relevant or interesting, I don't see any way back—the Internet will be overrun. Throw in indistinguishable deepfake content and generated images, music, videos and text, and it will eventually bring Dead Internet Theory to life.

For me, this is not an if but a when.

Right now, I've been noticing another shift. A huge part of the way we shape the Internet is by how we use it to interact with each other. When I put on my rose-tinted glasses, I reminisce about forums and communities and the early days of social media, where it felt like you could learn and gain insights from other people's experiences. I was part of many, whether it was about skateboarding, metal music, sites that leaked music (don't tell on me), and I was an early Reddit user. It all seemed real, raw, and straight from the source. It was what made the Internet so special; sharing a space with likeminded (or polar opposite) individuals, and through connecting or engaging, you could make friends, learn from new cultures, find out some cool shit, or take profound lessons and apply them to your own life (or get free music).

I always assumed that the majority of Internet users would push back against its continued destruction and would fight to keep the whole thing from being so dead. I hoped we would hold on to the knowledge and experience sharing, no matter how many bots we had to navigate.

Yet, whenever I spend any time on a social platform — that time is dwindling by the day — I'm starting to see users side-stepping the chance to engage with other users and, instead, happily interacting with bots and AI.

Look under any post now. If you can get past the barrage of "wow so interesting" responses, you'll then start seeing

@grok what does it mean

@perplexity predict what happens next

@grok what is going on here

@perplexity please explain this to me like the idiot I am

What is the value of exchange here?

I honestly can't tell if these accounts are real and actually want AI to spit out some regurgitated response for them, whether they think it's some lame flex or that Lord Elon might see them using Grok, or if they are bots trying to drive engagement to juice the numbers for various AI chatbots. I hope it's the latter because, somehow, it's the less grim option.

The Internet was a way to connect the literal world. And for a blissful moment in time, it did. It does still exist, but maintaining this connection and having it result in meaningful output is becoming harder.

With the rise of AI, it seems people are turning their back on human engagement, instead becoming more insular and isolated, using their own "trained" AI to generate knowledge, opinion and advice for them, rather than getting that from a source that's actually lived it.

I find that utterly bleak and worrying foreshadowing of where the Internet will be five to ten years from now: devoid of humans, deprived of authenticity, and dead as fuck.