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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Internet theory | 3/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Internet_theory | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:10:21.240001+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Bot traffic === In 2016, the security firm Imperva released a report on bot traffic after examining over 16.7 billion visits to 100,000 randomly selected domains, and found that automated programs were responsible for 52% of web traffic. This report has been used as evidence in reports on the dead Internet theory. Imperva's report for 2023 found that 49.6% of Internet traffic was automated, a 2% rise from 2022, which was partly attributed to artificial intelligence models scraping the web for training content. A 2023 policy paper from the Institutul Diplomatic Român cited this increase in bot traffic as the basis for the dead Internet theory.
=== Large language models ===
Generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) are a class of large language models (LLMs) that employ artificial neural networks to produce human-like content. The first of these to be well known was developed by OpenAI. These models have created significant controversy. For example, Timothy Shoup of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies said in 2022, "in the scenario where GPT-3 'gets loose', the Internet would be completely unrecognizable". He predicted that in such a scenario, 99% to 99.9% of content online might be AI-generated by 2025 to 2030. These predictions have been used as evidence for the dead Internet theory. In 2024, Google reported that its search results were being inundated with websites that "feel like they were created for search engines instead of people". In correspondence with Gizmodo, a Google spokesperson acknowledged the role of generative AI in the rapid proliferation of such content and that it could displace more valuable human-made alternatives. Bots using LLMs are anticipated to increase the amount of spam, and run the risk of creating a situation where bots interacting with each other create "self-replicating prompts" that result in loops only human users could disrupt. In an article in AI & Society, Henrique Marcos discusses the possibility of LLMs impacting linguistic communities as they become more widespread in a scenario like the dead Internet theory.
==== ChatGPT ==== ChatGPT is an AI chatbot whose late 2022 release to the general public led journalists to call the dead Internet theory potentially more realistic than before. Before ChatGPT's release, the dead Internet theory mostly emphasized government organizations, corporations, and tech-literate individuals. ChatGPT gives the average Internet user access to large language models. This technology caused concern that the Internet would become filled with content created through the use of AI that would drown out organic human content.
=== Facebook ===
In 2024, AI-generated images on Facebook, referred to as "AI slop", began going viral. Subjects of these AI-generated images included flight attendants, black children next to artwork they supposedly created, and various iterations of "Shrimp Jesus", depictions of Christ "meshed in various forms" with shrimp. Many of these posts had hundreds or even thousands of comments saying "Amen". The images were cited as an example of the Internet of the time having begun to feel "dead". Sommerer discussed Shrimp Jesus in detail within his article as a symbol to represent the shift in the Internet, specifically stating:
Just as Jesus was supposedly the messenger for God, Shrimp Jesus is the messenger for the fatal system [we've] maneuvered ourselves into. Decoupled, proliferated, and in a state of exponential metastasis. Facebook includes an option to provide AI-generated responses to group posts. Such responses appear if a user explicitly tags @MetaAI in a post, or if the post includes a question and no other users have responded to it within an hour. In January 2025, interest renewed in the theory following statements from Meta on their plans to introduce new AI-powered autonomous accounts. Connor Hayes, vice-president of product for generative AI at Meta stated, "We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do ... They'll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform." These accounts were quickly removed.
=== Reddit ===
In the past, the Reddit website allowed free access to its API and data, which allowed users to employ third-party moderation apps and train AI in human interaction. In 2023, the company moved to charge for access to its user dataset. Companies training AI are expected to continue to use this data for training future AI. As LLMs such as ChatGPT become available to the general public, they are increasingly being employed on Reddit by users and bot accounts. Professor Toby Walsh, a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales, said in an interview with Business Insider that training the next generation of AI on content created by previous generations could cause the content to suffer. University of South Florida professor John Licato compared this situation of AI-generated web content flooding Reddit to the dead Internet theory.
=== Twitter ===
In 2020, several Twitter accounts started posting tweets starting with the phrase "I hate texting" followed by an alternative activity, such as "i hate texting i just want to hold ur hand", or "i hate texting just come live with me". These posts received tens of thousands of likes, many of which are suspected to be from bot accounts. Proponents of the dead Internet theory have used these accounts as an example.
In September 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on Twitter (by then called X), bringing attention to the dead Internet theory. He stated that:i never took the dead internet theory that seriously but it seems like there are really a lot of LLM-run twitter accounts now. This post went viral and lead to discussion about the impact of generative AI on society at large, including online experience, human language, and education.