The Dead Internet Theory is the proposal of the idea that the internet consists mainly of AI or bot activity that generate content which in turn is pushed by an internet algorithm. Some say that sometime between 2030 and 2035 the internet experience will be upwards of 99% AI and bot generated. Even today I can recall instances of reading or watching something that makes no intelligent sense. This is the media that is being consumed now within TikTok and YouTube shorts; destroying attention spans. It is only going to get worse according to the dead internet theory and continued nonsensical content being pushed. Not only is it videos, but when you google something nearly all the results is garbage produced by AI, just as SEO intended.

Now, obviously this theory may seem blown out of proportion. I do not believe that every interaction will lead to a 99% dead internet (Thank goodness for existing websites like Vizzed) but I do believe biological human created content, especially on popular “pillar” platforms will become scarce. Some of this garbage is completely unintelligible and adds nothing of real value. However, it will be continued to be consumed mindlessly for an easy dopamine release. It is completely addictive; especially short-form video content and endless scrolling. It can suck anyone in, including myself at times. This is something I don’t like about my routine and is something I am working to change with small steps at a time to remove myself from this culture. Hence, I have NEVER and will NEVER install TikTok lol. None of these short scale content bits add anything of value to my day. It is completely mindless. Even the short content I get sent from friends is never really that funny as when they may have sent me longer form videos in the past or when we would hangout and watch videos together.

One side note as this may be progressing faster than originally thought. I had recently read an article that reported that in a 2016 bot traffic report it appeared as though bots were responsible for 52% of all internet traffic. That was almost 10 years ago and things have only progressed since then. It is going to be AI and bots creating content for AI and bots to consume. I can see it already. I think there may be some push back from advertisers as the users are the product but it is no longer human attention being delivered. It will be very interesting to see where this leads. We can see it already on Twitter, tweets are made by bots, and liked and shared by bots. It is reported that 13.7% of Twitter is monetized bots thought to be responsible for a disproportionate amount of content pushed.

Anyone have their own thoughts on this? Or perhaps would anyone like to tell me to don my tinfoil hat XD

The Dead Internet Theory is not a theory anymore. You yourself said it, bot traffic has been a majority in internet for several years and with the AI this has gotten even worse. And if we add the biological humans using AI to voice text and add filters, essentially meaning there's nothing separating it from content generated from the ground-up by AIs or bots, then I'm in to believe that theorized 99% in the span of the next ten years.

I absolutely hate TikTok and that stuff of Youtube shorts. I despise hearing the AI-generated voice, it makes me throw up how basic and plain it is. But yes, this is going to get much worse, and we had the first example in DoubleSpeed: an AI/ bot farm spamming content advertising products, which of course is breaking laws but since they're AI and not humans then we cannot sue anybody for false advertising or things like that. And this means easy scams for companies and users once again being heavily penalised.

I've had a few arguments with my girlfriend because she does have TikTok, though she uses nothing of AI. I immediately start feeling unwell when there's an AI-audio telling a fictional story at 2x speed, meaning you understand nothing. And there are much worse examples. I try to stay level headed, because she and her sisters use it for real content, but I can't always remain calm. It's taking us by storm and the society is just yelling WOW like idiots. I don't care if I'm a grumpy old man, at least I care for content quality even if no one else does.

As for the AI-generated search, in my experience it hasn't been entirely garbage. Sometimes the AI answer has the bits of information I needed and taken from reliable sources, which aren't always indexed in the first results. This may suck, I agree, but it gives the quick result we want and we can later explore further because it cites reliable sources. I admit I don't search that much, nor I'm always searching for answers, but so far my experience with that is okay. I'd be happier if the reliable sources were indexed first and there was no AI to summarize things up based on what they think is important, though.

Sincerely, I'm getting so tired of this world. Every day that passes, I understand better why there are so many digital nomads out there, at first I saw them as strange people but now I realize they are intelligent and very aware of the dangers and filth of this world. And to anybody reading this, it's good to stay out of trends, you're not a worse person or an inferior being for not succumbing to s***.

EX Palen : Oh man don't even get me started on the AI generated voice. My Fiancée has TikTok and I can hear the voice through the walls. It drives me insane. I don't know why I despise that voice as much as I do.

I find there is a high pitched hissing noise I can hear too when the volume is up loud and it's coming from the other room.

Maybe it will become a trend to become a digital "nomad" or at the very least abstaining from certain kinds of media... One can hope at least. I'll just worry about myself XD

Yeah, this isn't a theory anymore. No longer is the internet a place of creativity or insanity. Instead it has been overrun by corporations that are trying to monetize every single thing that happens. It's unbearable.

Honestly, this is part of why I've come back here. This place is small enough that I don't expect there are any sophisticated bots posting here. I know we get the occasional spammer that posts the same garbage for a day and then gets banned but I don't expect that there is a bot behind any of the members who have been here for any decent amount of time.

It's unfortunate because it has ruined the internet in my opinion. At least large parts of it. There are fewer and fewer sites like this to find. A place like this used to be a dime a dozen. No disrespect to Vizzed or anything but you could find 100 different places like this to post on and have 100 more if those places didn't suit you. Now most of them are dead or dying. I don't feel like I'm getting real interactions anywhere else but here.

I do hope that in a few years the excessive botting and AI will ruin the big social media sites and drive the majority of people from the internet as it is now and places like this start to come back. It's better here.