I stumbled upon a conversation where someone working at a well-known AI firm stated that the Dead Internet Theory could actually be true. For those unfamiliar, this theory implies that a significant portion of online material is produced by bots and AI instead of actual humans.
It made me reflect on what we observe on social media, forums, and various websites. Are we really reaching a stage where content generated by machines is overshadowing authentic contributions from real people? The employee indicated that the transition to AI-driven content is occurring quicker than many of us may understand.
Has anyone else perceived this change? What do you think about the possibility that much of the online content we interact with daily might be crafted by algorithms rather than human beings?
This hits close to home - I’ve been moderating online communities for years and the change is impossible to ignore. Started noticing weird patterns in late 2022, and it’s only gotten worse. What gets me most? Everyone writes the same now. Used to be that each community had its own vibe, its own way of talking. Now I’m seeing identical phrasing across tech forums, product reviews, social media - everywhere. It’s creepy. The engagement’s gone flat too. Posts that should spark massive debates just get these boring, agreeable responses that say nothing. Feels like I’m stuck in an echo chamber where algorithms killed off real controversy and disagreement. I miss the human stuff that made online conversations real. Random typos from someone furiously typing on their phone. Regional slang that showed you were talking to people from all over. Personal stories that felt genuinely lived, not manufactured. Worst part? Real users are starting to copy this sanitized, optimized writing style they see everywhere. Makes it even harder to spot who’s actually human anymore.
Seeing this at work and it’s crazy how fast everything’s changing.
Last quarter we rolled out content tools that churn out thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and forum responses daily. Scary part? Most people can’t tell the difference.
I run a small tech blog and my organic reach has tanked this past year. I’m competing with sites pumping out 50+ AI articles daily. They rank higher because they flood search engines, even with generic content.
Comment sections are worse. I moderate a dev community and about 30% of responses feel robotic now. Perfect grammar but missing the weird tangents and quirks real developers have.
What really hit me was analyzing traffic patterns. Found entire networks of sites cross-referencing each other, similar writing styles, publishing at inhuman speeds. Like watching a parallel internet emerge.
That employee was right about speed. We went from “AI might help with content” to “AI IS the content” in 18 months. Most companies don’t even hide it because it works.
Real human voices are becoming the minority. That’s what keeps me up at night.