There’s been no greater seismic shift on the Internet within the past decade than the explosive growth and adoption of AI tools and technologies over the past few years. But along with the meteoric adoption of AI’s usefulness and integrations, there’s also begun a correlating rise in obscure content being created which seems… less-than-human.
An internet-centric concept called the Dead Internet Theory has become more prominent within the public consciousness and seeks to explain what’s going on in terms of the state of the web right now.
However, it’s important to note that while some claims within Dead Internet Theory are readily visible, other aspects of it lean very much into the realm of conspiracy with no observation or objective proof to substantiate any of its more audacious claims.
In this article, we’ll help examine what exactly Dead Internet Theory is, the ways in which it’s currently true, plausible, and false, and how it could affect business owners as a whole within a rapidly expanding digital landscape.
What Is The Dead Internet Theory? – Simply Defined
At its core, the Dead Internet Theory proposes that AI and bot-generated content has surpassed the human-generated internet.
In other words, more content, blogs, articles, videos, products, and websites are now being created from technology-first sources rather than coming directly from human hands and old-fashioned work efforts.
Forbes defines Dead Internet Theory as, “the belief that the vast majority of internet traffic, posts and users have been replaced by bots and AI-generated content.”
Although there’s some more nuanced aspects to the theory which are worth examining, this bare-bones definition will be the main reference point to consider going forward.
Ways in Which Dead Internet Theory is True, Plausible, and False
TRUE: The Degeneration of Social Media Engagement
In early 2024, TikTok content creator @sidemoneytom stumbled upon some puzzling examples of how the Dead Internet Theory has already taken hold within some circles of Facebook, and perhaps social media at large.
He points out in one particular video a visible pattern in which AI-bot accounts appear to generate a hybrid of some of the highest engaging posts: Jesus, airline travel, and animals.
While the final products of generated images produce a clear-cut uncanny valley reaction, the more apparent concern goes an extra layer deeper.
An artificially inflated amount of engagement amongst these types of posts comes from other bot-accounts liking and commenting on the incoherent images with platitude comments such as, “Amen!” and “Beautiful!” thousands and thousands of threads deep.
“The AI is now feeding itself.” @sidemoneytom notes. “As long as there’s no shortage of traffic from other AI bots, as millions and millions more are created everyday, you and me can only guess where this is gonna end up.”
Although Facebook has made strides in cracking down on fake bot-accounts and disinformation campaigns over the past several years, the sophistication of such bot activity can only be expected to increase going forward.
And if platforms don’t properly safeguard their entryways enough, it’s entirely possible that any genuine human activity and posts could be drowned out by a system that creates its own nightmarish positive-feedback loop of nonsense content.
PLAUSIBLE: AI is Being Used to Create Artificially Generated Products
During the 2024 Superbowl, the online retailer Temu purchased a 30-second time slot advertising its phone app for $7 million.
The commercial concludes with the catchy phrase, “Shop like a billionaire” to help drive home how cheap it is to purchase products from its platform. This is what was publicly advertised for millions of people to see.
However, if you’ve done any shopping on the platform or have come across any Temu ads within your search engine feed, a different style of advertising is displayed.
The full product name for this image is: Boho Style Acrylic Venus Flytrap Figurine – 1PC, 2D Flat Acrylic Art Decor, Fantasy Carnivorous Plant with Sharp Teeth and Tentacles, Tabletop Mounting, Multipurpose Flower Theme Sign for Home, Office, Cafe Display, Perfect Christmas Gift, 7.08″x7.87″
Any trustworthy internet marketing company worth its salt would immediately notice how this is a prime example of “keyword soup”.
This spammy practice entails throwing as many word combinations together to describe a product or service hoping that searchers will stumble upon it using any combination of the included words.
But if you look closely, it only gets more confusing. The product’s ultra-polished, yet at times uneven symmetry shows that the original image was likely generated via AI and then made into a vinyl figurine for sale. Although it’s impossible to be 100% sure, t
Combining this observation along with the product’s name in question, which is 251-characters long, this is likely the result of an end-to-end product automation accomplished through the means of AI.
Multiplying this by the sheer number of product categories not just on Temu’s platform itself but across the entire web could yield to a seemingly limitless amount of automated product possibilities totally lacking human-first ideation and creation.
Although this could mean sales for certain businesses willing to dabble in such tactics, as such end-to-end, AI-generated products get more and more sophisticated, human businesses and services, like graphic designers and custom apparel design companies, could be directly affected as there’s no way any human-generated creations could possibly keep up with such quick turnarounds.
FALSE: The Internet now consists mostly of bots and fake users.
Yes, the use of AI and the presence of bots are more prevalent than ever before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that humans have become less active on the Internet as a whole.
As a matter of fact, more people are now using the Internet more than ever before as, cumulatively, the world’s “Internet age” is very much still within its early stages in terms of usage and adoption (within the past 30+ years).
Source: https://ourworldindata.org/internet#
Source: Hannah Ritchie, Edouard Mathieu, Max Roser and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2023) – “Internet” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/internet‘ [Online Resource]
On top of this, it’s never been easier to create, record, post and share content right from the palm of your hand using only a smartphone.
There’s even been so much of an influx of this User-Generated Content (UGC) that it’s affected how people search the Internet.
Although this doesn’t rule-out the possibility of AI bots outpacing human-UGS anytime soon, the good news is that people will always gravitate towards and trust other people. And if you’re a business owner, this is what you’ll come to try on more and more across the digital landscape.
What Business Owners Can Learn From Dead Internet Theory
AI and bot-generated content has already demonstrated the capacity to outpace humans in terms of content creation capabilities and production.
Although AI bots and automatically-generated products haven’t fully overwhelmed all of our social media feeds or search results, if Dead Internet Theory becomes a reality, it has the potential to undermine both current and future internet usage in a reverse Turing test.
Instead of assuming that you’re a human first and a robot second, the inverse is presumed.
Don’t know what a reverse Turing test looks like off the top of your head? Well, you’ve almost certainly checked this box before…
*Google’s reCAPTCHA tool .
States of the internet ecosystem have permeated nearly every corner of our day-to-day lives. Yet, whether or not these online innovations are beneficial or harmful for our overall health and wellbeing is impossible to discern in-the-moment. And its potentially harmful side effects seem to only ever be discovered after the fact.
To help mitigate against such harmful effects, it’s imperative now more than ever for business owners to practice digital discernment.
This includes a variety of tactics such as:
- Utilizing AI image detection tools if you’re unsure whether an image is real or not. – isitai.com is a good place to start.
- Not engaging in obscure or click-baity social media posts that lean into shock factors or produce nonsense imagery.
- Supporting small businesses and local artists over faceless e-commerce sites and apps.
- Becoming knowledgeable about AI’s potential benefits and harmful uses. A hammer can help build a new house, but it can also break a stained-glass window.
In conclusion, it’s become imperative now more than ever to have a new mindset of digital discernment in place in order for business owners, and users alike, to effectively navigate the ever evolving, online landscapes where we work, play, communicate and connect with each other.
Ironically enough, one of the most tried-and-true methods of using digital discernment, which we all heard from our parents, family or friends at one point or another, has now come full-circle back into relevance once more with a bit of a twist:
“Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”
has now evolved into…
“Don’t believe everything you See on the Internet.”
If business owners learn anything from Dead Internet Theory it’s that humans will forever have an upper hand over AI-bots in that we crave connection with each other, cherish hearing stories that could never be made up using a prompt, and value real-world relationships with each other, which is the furthest thing from “artificial” possible.
AI isn’t the enemy here. In fact, business owners should be the first to experiment with its usefulness and explore its potential for opening up new horizons for both customers and processes alike.
However, if this new technology speeds forward unchecked and unmitigated, then we may find ourselves in unfamiliar online terrains where humans gather and exchange with each other less and less.
Although the Internet is nowhere near dead, if we’re not careful and allow our own technology to use us more than we use it, then the Dead Internet Theory will no longer be a potential warning, but a harsh reality where even our own humanity is second-guessed through two-factor authentication verified by robots first and humans second.
How TheeDigital Helps Business Owners Prepare for the Digital Future
If you’re a business owner that doesn’t have the time to figure out how to navigate the unknown futures of the Internet marketing landscape, then there’s no better partner for you to choose than TheeDigital.
Our team proudly stays on the cutting edge of marketing trends while utilizing organic, white-hat strategies that help your business grow without grifting search rankings through unsustainable methods.
Although we proudly utilize a handful of trustworthy AI technologies in-house, we ensure throughout all of our digital marketing efforts that we put our clients’ needs first and examine their data-points second, never the other way around.
Talk To A Human
If you want to talk to a human to discover what the best digital marketing strategy for your business is, then call us at 919-373-3642 Today to learn more.
Tags: Digital Marketing
