‘Dead Internet Theory’ explained: Why Reddit founder blames ‘quasi AI’ and ‘LinkedIn slop’ for killing the web
Over the past four years, the “dead internet theory” has emerged as a conspiracy, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian appeared to support the idea.
The dead internet theory first surfaced on Reddit and has since gained traction; Many people say that the internet is now taken over by bots.
Speaking to the hosts of the TBPN podcast on Monday, Ohanian blamed artificial intelligence and the ‘collapse’ of LinkedIn.
“You’re all proving that most of the internet is dead now; this whole dead internet theory, right? Whether it’s botted or quasi-AI, LinkedIn bullshit,” Ohanian said.
“Having proof of life like live audiences and live content is really valuable for capturing attention,” he added.
Not only Alexis Ohanian, but also AI founders like Sam Altman seemed to accept the dead internet theory conspiracy in some way.
“I never took the dead internet theory all that seriously, but it seems there are now a number of Twitter accounts actually run by graduate students,” he wrote in X last month.
What is the dead internet theory?
The dead internet theory gained attention on Reddit a few years ago. A post on Reddit by a user named IlluminatiPirate has been viewed over 3,62,000 times and details the death of the internet.
The dead internet theory is largely a conspiracy theory, suggesting that the internet has been almost entirely taken over by autonomous machines, as well as artificial intelligence and bots.
The conspiracy theory also says that the accounts and profiles you interact with on social media are actually just bots.
The dead internet theory also suggests that users barely interact with real people on the internet and that everything you see online is a machine-facilitated illusion, similar to the movie ‘The Matrix’.
The theory has gained traction in recent years as social media platforms have been infiltrated on a mass scale by bot accounts. The rise of artificial intelligence chatbots has made this practice even easier.
What is the solution?
According to Alexis Ohanian, the solution to controlling the power of bots on the internet can be done by making applications more humane.
“I think we’re going to see a new generation of verifiable human social media emerge because everything is talked about in group chats now; it’s not a new technology,” Ohanian said.
“There has to be the next iteration of this, because now we all really get the best information from here.”
