(NEXSTAR) — Have you ever considered that most people on the other end of your social media conversations may be artificial intelligence?
Some suggest it’s becoming more and more likely every year.
It’s called “The Dead Internet Theory.” The idea is that most of the internet is dominated by AI-generated content, with human-to-human interaction becoming increasingly rare.
Its earliest origins are traced back to a 2021 post on a Macintosh forum by a user named IlluminatiPirate, who authored a lengthy rundown called “Dead Internet Theory: Most Of The Internet Is Fake.”
This post goes in depth into the theory and gives a myriad of examples, but its summary is this: “Large proportions of the supposedly human-produced content on the internet are actually generated by artificial intelligence networks in conjunction with paid secret media influencers in order to manufacture consumers for an increasing range of newly-normalised cultural products.”
In the years since this post, the topic has been discussed widely, including a video by popular YouTube channel “The Why Files” with over 3 million views, and a 2023 article in The Atlantic titled “Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago.”
Is the internet truly becoming overrun by AI bots, outnumbering humans at an increasing pace?
Experts seem to think that while bots are a growing problem, humans still dominate for the time being.
“Most of the interactions I seem to have on social media are with real people, but I am seeing [bots] increasingly more often, especially in feeds with large groups of users,” Jordan Dubreuil, associate professor of computer science at New England Institute of Technology, told Nexstar. “They’ll often get infiltrated with somebody that appears to be a real person, but they’re completely not.”
How can you tell if you’re interacting with is a real person or not? One good way is to dig a little deeper into their profile.
“I would look at the profile and see if they have genuine content,” Dubreuil says. “If you look at a profile and it’s like, 19 profile pictures and zero posts […] I would be cautious as to whether or not it’s a real person.”
Web hosting company Cloudflare also has an extensive article on social media bots and more tips on how to spot them.
“Look at the timing of their posts. If they are posting at times of day that don’t match up with their time zone or are making posts every few minutes every single day, these are indications that the account is automated.”
If you’re wondering why some might go to such lengths to fill social media sites with these bots, the main reasons are likely money and influence.
“It’s a form of social engineering to be able to influence folks as to how to think and how they behave,” Dubreuil says. “If it’s one person behind a keyboard, you can only reach so many people, but if you’re able to employ hundreds of bots, obviously you’ve got a bigger net to cast.”
The Dead Internet Theory may be an exaggeration to most at this point, but it’s still worth remembering that people on the internet may not be who they seem at first glance.