Sometimes the internet doesn’t feel human anymore. Your TikTok feed, your comment section, your Twitter replies—it all looks eerily … synthetic. This uncanny sense isn’t just your imagination. It’s the creepy premise of the Dead Internet Theory: the idea that most of the web has been quietly taken over by bots, algorithms, and AI—leaving few real humans left standing.
And now, even Sam Altman—CEO of OpenAI—says this fringe conspiracy might not be so outlandish after all. In a recent post, he admitted, “I never took the dead internet theory that seriously but it seems like there are really a lot of LLM-run Twitter accounts now.” That tiny confession just knocked the lid off a cultural pressure cooker. The Economic Timeswww.ndtv.com
What Is the Dead Internet Theory?
At its core, the theory proposes two things:
- Human activity online has sharply declined, replaced by AI-generated content, bots, and algorithmic flows.
- This wasn’t accidental—some believe it’s a coordinated effort (by tech giants, governments, or both) to control what we see and trust. Wikipedia
The idea wasn’t born in boardrooms. According to Wikipedia, the term originated on an esoteric forum in early 2021 by a user named “IlluminatiPirate”—because of course it did. Theories from there spread to YouTube, Reddit, and eventually to outlets like The Atlantic with a piece titled Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago. Wikipedia
Despite that, the theory has always felt both wild—and oddly plausible.
What’s the Evidence?
Bots are real. Imperva’s 2016 report found that 52% of web traffic came from automated programs. That number hovered near 50% again in 2023, with increases partially driven by AI scraping the web for datasets. WikipediaResearchGate
You’ve likely seen it:
- That overwhelming wave of “Amen” comments under bizarre AI-generated posts like “Shrimp Jesus.”
- Slippery bots pretending like humans.
- Disinformation that spreads and amplifies—a perfect storm for a digital fallacy.
In The Guardian, the Dead Internet Theory is described less as a fringe claim and more like “a ghost story that might have turned out to be true.” As the author notes, the internet used to nudge us to perform like bots. Now the bots are trained to sound like us—or even better. The Guardian
Financial Times tech critic Cory Doctorow has another take: he calls the online space we’ve entered “slop world,” a dehumanized, content-farmed landscape where cheap AI “slop” outpaces whatever meaningful expression we used to have. It’s not just spooky—it’s manipulative. Financial Times
The Echo of “Enshittification”
There’s a broader context here: the idea that platforms decay over time once monetization outruns purpose. Doctorow’s coined term for this is “enshittification”—when a service begins to value ad revenue, clamps down on creators, and ends up weaponizing slop just because it’s cheap. The Dead Internet Theory sort of fits inside that theory’s wings. Financial Times
So … Is It Real?
Let’s be clear—95% of humanity online is still real people posting, meme-ing, oversharing, and swearing in group DMs. But the Dead Internet isn’t purely literal. It’s about the texture of the web—the growing sense that:
- Algorithms decide what gets seen.
- Verified accounts can be LLMs.
- Clickbait displaces conversation.
A 2025 paper titled “The Dead Internet Theory: A Survey on Artificial Interactions and the Future of Social Media” frames it cleanly: platforms reward fake engagement, not human connection. And while humans still create most of the content, the growing infestation of bots, “AI slop,” and manipulated metrics are pushing us toward a soulless web. arXiv
Is Altman Right?
When Sam Altman hints the theory has merit, it changes the meme. It’s no longer the tinfoil-hat whisper in a basement—it’s a CEO acknowledging he built the tool that’s now part of what people feared. That’s wild, and it’s a flag moment.
But remember: bots are tools, not puppeteers. The surge of AI accounts isn’t necessarily a plot—it’s industry logic: algorithms reward engagement, and engagement equals revenue. The Dark Forest (not just 3-Body book theory) is the endless scroll, manipulated from all sides.
What We Do Now
- Don’t flatten your skepticism. Platforms need detection tools built in—some already do.
- Engage with humans more. Participate in niche forums. Look for voices, not views. As one FT article put it: “A humanity-prioritized internet will remain alive only if humans choose to show up.” The Courier-Mail
- Insist on transparency. LLM-labeled content. Bot audits. Accountability from tech platforms.
Bottom Line
The “Dead Internet Theory” isn’t just a spooky story for esoteric Reddit threads. It’s the unsettled feeling of sifting through what’s supposed to be noise—and realizing the noise might not be alive. It’s alt-right funding. Institutional echo chambers. Algorithmic puppetry.
And in 2025, with a tech CEO admitting some part of it rings true, that déjà vu—of a world running not by human hands, but by circuits—is no longer a thought experiment. It’s a call to remember: the internet belonged to us. But if we don’t resist letting it slip further away, it might die … quietly, endlessly—just like the bots.
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