”The Dead Internet Theory”: When Cyberspace is No Longer Lifeless

Content is created by artificial intelligence thereby marginalizing real human engagement and communication.

ILHAM KHOIRI

Andreas Maryoto

When we see beautiful photos on Instagram and we are interested and admire them, we begin to not realize that some of the content was created by intelligent technology. Text, sound and video can now also be created using artificial intelligence technology. Everything can become content on the internet. Is it worth it to say that all this content no longer has life? This is where the death internet theory or the dead internet theory emerged.

The list of uses for artificial intelligence is getting longer, causing a decrease in human involvement. We can try customer service facilities that already use bots so the machine can answer. Some voice-based consultations and conversations also already use artificial intelligence. In reality, our conversation partner is a machine.

Around 2010 this phenomenon was discussed and concluded, if so, the death of the internet began to occur. The Forbes page states that the internet death theory is a view that believes that the majority of internet traffic, posts and users have been replaced by bots and content generated by artificial intelligence, and that humans no longer determine the direction of the internet.

This theory circulated on the image-sharing platform 4Chan in the late 2010s, but was reinforced in a chat in 2021 following a lengthy post explaining the theory in an article titled "Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet is Fake" on the Agora Road's Kafe Macintosh forum. The discussion of the death of the internet has become active again earlier this year.

KOMPAS/MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ

Teenagers are learning how to operate the internet during the Champion Camp event in Kiara Payung, Sumedang, West Java, on Thursday (5/7).

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According to the theory of internet death, human-made organic content that supported the emergence of the early internet pages in the 1990s and 2000s has been replaced by artificial content. Sometimes, we are unaware that this content began to dominate and be consumed online. Therefore, the internet is "dead" because the content we consume is no longer created by living creatures, namely humans.

The Fast Company website warns of various possibilities when the theory of the death of the internet actually occurs. The internet will be filled with content created for certain interests. The transition from human-made content to artificial content is very likely to have a specific purpose. If it is led by the government and companies, they may use internet space to exploit control over public perception.

We are truly in a content jungle designed for various interests, making us confused with the existing narratives. We are confused in seeking the truth, confused in seeking the correct version of history, and confused in seeking the facts of an event. Everything is controlled and manipulated by machines that can easily design content, so that we are unaware that it is not original content.

Some people are starting to refer to this type of content as AI slime, aka AI-based content sludge. What's worse than the slush flood of AI-generated content that is taking over our social media posts is that many people, especially the older generation, don't seem to realize that the images or pieces of content were created by artificial intelligence. Based on the comments posted, many believe that the image is a real photo or a work of art created by a real person.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

President Joko Widodo, actress Vanesha Prescilla, and Armand Maulana when trying out the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Train (JBHST) from the KCJB Halim Station in Jakarta to the Padalarang Station in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday (13/9/2023). A number of ministers from the Indonesian Maju Cabinet, artists, and influencers also took part in the President's entourage this time.

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Virtual influence

The death of the human role has actually appeared some time ago when virtual influencers (influencers) appeared. Several brands have replaced the role of humans for marketing purposes. Companies no longer need influencers who are sometimes fussy and demanding. Virtual influence can work optimally and not do much.

As reported by The Intercept, TikTok—one of the largest repositories of AI-based content sludge—is exploring the possibility of releasing virtual influencers to compete for brand deals against human influencers. Instead of a brand paying five or six-figure figures to influencers to drive sales of clothes or cars, the platform instead offers brands the option to use its own artificial intelligence-based influencers.

Of course, the theory of the death of the internet is still a subject of debate. Some connect this theory as a conspiracy theory. According to this theory, everything on the internet is fake. The falsehoods arise because they are created by existing powers. They are the ones who control the actual content. Nevertheless, there are quite a few who recently say that the beliefs of supporters of this conspiracy theory are starting to have some truth.

Some acknowledge that bots and algorithms have generated a significant portion of internet content, sidelining actual human interaction and communication. Conversations can easily be replaced by machines.

According to this theory, as written in Yahoo!Tech, algorithmic curation has dominated the digital landscape, forcing organic human activities in cyberspace to be sidelined. All of this is due to our dependency on artificial intelligence products.