More often than not, conspiracy theories become so far-fetched that they are both ridiculous and hard to fully disprove to die-hard believers. But the dead internet theory is one conspiracy that could hold more water than others thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and agents.
This theory first appeared to surface on the Agora Road’s Macintosh Cafe forum in 2021, when a user by the name of “IlluminatiPirate” started a thread called “Dead Internet Theory: Most Of The Internet Is Fake.” Citing posts from major online discussion forums like 4Chan, the theory posits that non-human bots are responsible for the majority of online activity and content creation.
What does the dead internet theory propose?
At a top level, the concept is that bots automatically and rapidly craft things like social media posts that are algorithmically tuned for engagement — effectively farming clicks, comments and likes on platforms like Facebook and TikTok. This is because more interactions and engagement can lead to more advertising revenue.
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