Stanisland Magazine

The internet is growing at an exponential rate, but so are bots powered by artificial intelligence. How much of it is real?

As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in our lives, giving those without the means to create, you’ll find the Dead Internet Theory alongside it, something that is becoming a peripheral reality.

Users of the internet and all it has to offer will unassumingly continue without acknowledging it, though business owners may have to wrestle with the fact that visitors to their site may, or may not be real.

Understanding The Dead Internet Theory

Internet bots and AI aren’t new; they’ve been around since the pixellated days of early computing, but not at the sophisticated levels we are afforded today. Early spam was the first iteration of its kind to be used and is the cornerstone of their pervasive presence, evolving year-on-year. Machine learning algorithms were available early on and have become so advanced, they’re beginning to simulate human logic.

The Dead Internet Theory is a hypothesis positing that most of the internet, if not all of it, is overrun by AI and/or bots creating the mirage that communities we engage with are largely an illusion. In short, it is populated by AI driven programmes.

READ MORE: What Are Smartphones Doing To Our Minds? Nothing Good

Do you remember a time you argued with someone (online) who relentlessly pushed an agenda? Or a response from someone you perceived to be a little too robotic? Nevertheless, you ignore it assuming it’s someone unfamiliar with internet etiquette. That my friend, is most likely a bot and is exactly what we mean when we say – Dead Internet.

How likely is this?

Highly likely, I’m afraid. That guy John you were speaking to online? It’s conceivable that he was a bot.

Europe’s law enforcement forum, Europol, has suggested that by 2026, 90% of internet content will be artificial generated. According to research conducted by Imperva’s Thales, a cybersecurity company, 50% of internet traffic consists of “bots.” The findings were published in their annual 2024 Bad Bot Report, meaning, half of website traffic is AI and/or bots roaming our electronic pastures. The same goes for social media followers – so take that follower count of yours and slice it in half.

The latest stats on social media usage is also disconcerting. In 2017, Facebook deleted more than 27.67 billion fake accounts. This could be the tip of the iceberg. As time goes by, we could see more sophisticated bots capable of handling intelligent responses that are indistinguishable from real people.

Current Examples

You’re already witnessing the rise of AI generated video content thanks to a plethora of tools that are now widely available. From AI voiceovers to 100% artificially generated media produced from simple prompts, the gap between robot creations and human-made material is becoming smaller each day.

Another example are social media bots intelligent enough to hold a conversation. You may have even had one yourself, but, as highlighted, the likelihood of them being a real person is fifty-fifty.

To firm this up, do you remember a social media account advertising followers? You guessed it, they’re populating profiles with fake users. Another tell-tale sign of this is a low comment-to-like engagement ratio.

Many commenters online are powered by machine learning tools with the expertise to tailor responses to your questions. This technology is already proliferating as a customer service tool for companies such as Amazon and has been used online to sow discord in the form of disinformation and misinformation by governments and extremist organisations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, scores of bots were deployed to spread false information about the disease, contributing to widespread reckless behaviour and pseudoscientific claims.

In the 2016 presidential election, a study carried out by Indiana University found that just 6 percent of Twitter (Now X) accounts were responsible for 31% of low-reliability posts.

Even humans Aren’t Real

Thanks to AI’s tentacles, we now have a dilemma on our hands. Authentic content is becoming increasingly harder to come by as programmes generate human-like video. This could spell the end of the YouTuber, podcaster, and even the visual arts if we’re unable to find a common ground.

Despite AI’s potential to assist in the workplace, its flagship purpose remains underrepresented. Its benefits in the medical field are being overshadowed by the creative industry, which, quite rightly, have qualms with its interference.

How Will This Impact Web Users?

As replicated content becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, free speech and accurate information will face a calendar of challenging moments.

There are a number of ways we can tackle the problem; one of which is the obvious—to utilise machine learning models that can identify bot-generated content.

Social media outlets need to step their game up to increase investment in technologies that will undermine their nefarious motivations. At present, methods to quash them are lacking, but some existing ones, such as two-factor authentication (2FA) for each new account or a temporary debit card verification could be a starting point.

Internet Users Cannot Tell The Difference

The digital literacy of users is also quite poor; only a small amount of people are able to tell the difference between bot-generated content and authentic human responses, something that was seen during the most recent presidential election. Helping people develop these skills is important to discern authentic content from automated media, falsified data. and cyber criminals.

Silicon valley should be more transparent about the number of bots they have deleted and the approximate number that may still be active. A combination of factors, including technologies, user education, and reporting will be a start in countering its activity and its potential for disruption.

Conclusion

While the internet may not have entirely fallen to it, compelling research suggests more than half of it may be populated by robots. This will increase as programmes become more advanced, leading to an advanced independence far removed from today.

Research has given credence to the Dead Internet Theory, and the findings lay bare the state of the internet. The concept of bots developing intelligence could make them a dangerous prospect. While the web may not be “dead” per se, it can be likened more to a zombie takeover; the undead being AI.

So, when the machines do take over, it will most likely be because they have commandeered our minds via opinions coded into them by their programmers. Just as the internet is a battleground of misinformation, so too could it be one for independent thought.