Some of these hyper-realistic images receive tens of thousands of likes and comments from gullible people who empathize with the created characters and their fictional stories. The “dead internet” theory says Artificial intelligence and bot-generated content has long surpassed the human-generated Internet. Therefore, most of our interactions are with bots and artificial intelligence, not with real people. So where did this idea come from and does it have any basis in reality?

dead internet theory

The dead internet theory doesn’t just apply to content. This also applies to accounts managed entirely by bots, often based on artificial intelligence. Now that AI has gained so much development and promotion, it has become even easier and requires almost no cost. So these fake pages can quickly create large amounts of posts with AI-generated images designed to attract audiences (clicks, likes, comments) on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

But the dead internet theory goes further. Often, among the comments on these scam posts are many of the same bots trying to increase activity on the page and add it to the recommendations. creates closed circle of artificial gravityA process that has no clear agenda, no beginning or end, and no longer involves human participation.

At first glance, the motivation for these accounts to gain attention may seem obvious; Interaction on social networks leads to advertising revenue. If a person creates an account with high activity, they can receive a share of advertising revenue from social networks such as Meta.

So will the dead internet theory be enough to harmlessly increase interaction? Or perhaps beneath the surface lies a sophisticated, well-financed effort to prop up authoritarian regimes, attack opponents, and spread propaganda? Behind the screen of innocently created memes like Jesus in the form of a submerged shrimp on Facebook, experts say Might be worth a longer term number.

While these artificial intelligence-supported accounts quickly grow followers with fake pages, this large number of pages legitimizes the account in front of real users interested in various sensitive topics. This means that a whole army of accounts has been created.

This is very important because social networks are now the main source of news for many users around the world. In Australia, 46% of 18-24 year olds said social media was their main source of news in the past year. This figure increased from 28% in 2022, replacing traditional media such as radio and television.

Disinformation fed by bots

There is already convincing evidence that it is. social networks are being manipulated by these bloated botsInfluencing public opinion with disinformation. Moreover, this situation has been happening for years. They gain followers with compassionate posts about cats, and then they begin to change the tone and theme of their content.

A 2018 study analyzed 14 million tweets over a ten-month period in 2016 and 2017. It was found that Social media bots play a heavy role in spreading articles from unreliable sources. Accounts with large numbers of followers legitimize misinformation in the public eye, forcing real users to believe, engage, and share content published by bots.

This approach to manipulating social networks was discovered after a shooting in the United States in 2019. The study then found that bot-generated posts on X made a significant contribution to the public debate by amplifying or distorting potential narratives about extreme events.

Russia is the leader of world disinformation

We cannot help but mention Russia’s efforts to fill the world with lies. Recently, multiple large-scale pro-Russian disinformation campaigns have aimed to undermine support for Ukraine and promote pro-Russian sentiment. This terrorist country has previously tried to influence the elections in the USA, the UK’s exit from the European Union and many other issues and events.

This coordinated effort, exposed by activists and journalists, reached millions of social media users by using bots and artificial intelligence to create and spread fake information.

In one case, a campaign was discovered that used more than 10,000 bot accounts to quickly post tens of thousands of pro-Kremlin messages attributed to American and European celebrities who allegedly supported the war against Ukraine.

This scale of impact is important. According to some data, Bots will account for almost half of all internet traffic in 2022. With the latest advances in generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini models, the quality of fake content will become increasingly better.

Social media organizations are struggling to combat abuse on their platforms. Elon Musk in particular has considered requiring X users to pay for membership to stop bot farms. However, if Russia pays for Premium accounts to receive promotions in referral streams, then there is nothing to prevent it from paying for registration as well, especially since the price for it is much lower.

Social media giants have the capacity to remove large amounts of detected bot activity if they wish. However, it is not always possible to find all manifestations of propaganda in a timely and complete manner.

So are we living in a dead internet?

The dead internet theory does NOT claim that most of your personal interactions on the internet are fake. After all, bots are created for a specific type of interaction and do not go beyond that. While AI can mimic a human, it does not create a full-fledged “character” that will behave like a normal person and interact with you in a variety of ways. As far as our personal subscriptions are concerned, they remain – at least for the most part – still easily recognizable and for living people. But content is another matter.

This is an interesting look at the internet that shows us another side of this technology. The fact that the web is no longer for people and not made by people; This is why the internet we know and love is “dead.”

The freedom to create and share your thoughts online and on social media is what makes it so powerful. Naturally, it is exactly this power that bad actors try to control.

Any interaction, disposition, and especially “general mood” may well be synthetic. It’s designed to slightly change the way you perceive the world.