Conspiracy or not, the idea that the internet is losing its human touch isn’t far-fetched—and we might already be living in its aftermath.
Earlier this year, a group of researchers from the University of Zurich infiltrated the Reddit thread r/changemyview, filling it with more than 1,000 AI-generated responses disguised as human users. Their goal was this: to determine whether people would be more persuaded by artificial content than by genuine human opinions. The findings were affirmative (more on that later), but the reactions of Reddit users and other researchers who uncovered the deception were anything but. Headlines poured in, one researcher calling it “the worst internet-research ethics violation I have ever seen,” as reported by The Atlantic. To me, this incident was neither a beginning nor an end, but another grim, ominous sign of a darker era already set in motion: the internet, or at least the one we knew, is dead.
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When Reddit Isn’t Human, What Is?
Let’s set aside the fact that the experiment was highly unethical—that much is obvious. What’s more concerning are the results: these AI comments received higher upvotes or scores than those made by human commenters. You might think, Big deal, what’s new? It seems the robots are just better at everything, even understanding the inane human problems our fleshy brains consider too complex. Calculator versus mental math—no surprise who wins.
The real issue lies in why this development unsettled people. Reddit is, in many ways, one of the last bastions of an internet meant for humans, by humans, for better or worse. Upvotes, downvotes, absurd questions, heated debates—no matter the topic, the essence was the same: a community of people gathering to share opinions, advice, and questions about anything under the sun.
“So much of the internet is now dead, this whole dead internet theory, right? Whether it’s botted, whether it’s quasi-AI, LinkedIn slop,” shares Reddit co-founder in a recent podcast episode of tech podcast TBPN.
Reddit has its flaws, but it also recalls the internet many of us—older Gen Zs and Millennials—once knew. Smaller, curated spaces nurtured niche communities (rest in peace, Club Penguin). A search engine returned exactly what you asked for, not a flood of recycled summaries and SEO-driven clutter. Knowledge was gained through careful searching and intentional clicks.
Yes, I risk sounding nostalgic, one moment away from waving my walking stick and reminiscing about the “good old days,” but that may explain why so many people are trying to revive Y2K and ‘90s sensibilities, from fashion to older technology like digital cameras and BlackBerrys. As social psychologist Clay Routledge writes in a guest essay for The New York Times, “Historical nostalgia may be helping a younger generation to harness the benefits of new technology while preserving the virtues of the tangible, physical experiences that remain essential to human flourishing.”
But how much of what we once knew, loved, and still long for can we truly save? In an age where it’s harder than ever to distinguish the artificial from the human, can we preserve the internet that existed before all this, or are we already living inside its hollow shell?
The Dead Internet Theory
The Dead Internet Theory is a conspiracy, and one I shouldn’t toss around lightly in journalism. Still, it warrants thought, if only for the grain of truth it contains. With our current digital climate, it’s already been discussed among academics, media outlets, and tech experts. In their 2025 paper, “The Dead Internet Theory: A Survey on Artificial Interactions and the Future of Social Media,” researchers Muzumdar et al. write that the theory “suggests that much of today’s internet, particularly social media, is dominated by non-human activity, AI-generated content, and corporate agendas, leading to a decline in authentic human interaction.” It’s been a steady, virtually unstoppable crawl, a large fire engulfing a structure before moving on to the next, and you can only watch it burn.
The theory posits that this artificial reality (or rather, unreality) began as early as 2016. You may have seen its early forms as bot replies on Twitter or influencers “buying” bots to boost engagement. That was only the beginning. The Dead Internet Theory continued to rise and fall, and with the newest AI developments, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to deny.
Fear of advanced technologies is nothing new, but we’ve entered an era where human touch is almost entirely absent. Even heavily photoshopped images in the earlier internet required a modicum of effort. You had to spot what to fix, use an airbrush or lasso tool, and make adjustments with clicks, hence the human errors like botched faces and waistlines. Now, a few prompts, sometimes none at all, can generate entire deepfake videos that are frighteningly realistic.
Case in point: in late 2024, OpenAI launched an AI social platform and video creation app called Sora. Then, in September, the company unveiled Sora 2, which is more powerful and convincing than ever. People can create fake scenarios that could fool even the most discerning eyes. In the early days of AI, spotting deepfake videos was easier, thanks to odd inconsistencies like extra fingers, unnatural physics, or the unmistakable uncanny valley effect.
I get goosebumps watching their sample videos. Sure, subtle details—wisps of something off—still exist, but I only notice them because I’m aware I’m watching AI-generated content. On your feed, shared by friends, liked by millions, it’s far harder to snap out of complacency and look closely. And how, exactly, are we supposed to crosscheck or verify what we see when no foolproof tool exists to keep pace with these rapid developments?
“I never took the Dead Internet Theory that seriously, but it seems there are really a lot of LLM [Large Language Model]-run Twitter accounts now,” writes OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman on X. Which, coming from the mastermind behind so many of these developments, is a statement that’s both ironic and bleak.
We could advocate for stronger media literacy programs, both in schools and in workplace training, regardless of educational background. Yet, as the News Literacy Project points out, “Education can move slowly. Technology does not. Spotting an extra AI-generated finger is not enough anymore. What students need is the ability to question information, investigate the source, [and] judge credibility.” Yet in a world where our dependency on AI is already eroding critical thinking, original thought, and overall brain function, we find ourselves trapped in an alarming chicken-and-egg problem.
It’s AI’s World, We’re Just Living In It
The internet as we know it’s dead. You can agree to disagree, but this is the conclusion I’ve drawn, a sinking realization that’s been spreading through my consciousness for some time now. I felt it when Meta announced it would be releasing a TikTok-style feed called “Vibes,” dedicated entirely to AI content. I felt it while learning, as a professional in the media industry, what it takes to survive in a world of AI-summarized searches—how everything we say must be distilled just to reach the top, to even be considered worthy of appearing on Google: abridged, abbreviated, oversimplified, yet at the top nonetheless.
Knowledge, art, craft, and all the human complexities of the world become “content,” a word I detest, but it’s the truth. And this content? It’s everywhere yet nowhere, which means it’s nothing at all. Words are minced. Truth is secondary to engagement and convenience; nuance has no place in our society. We live in an AI world, but scariest of all, we seem to be welcoming (and dependent on) this invasion.
Sora 2 has been downloaded over a million times in just five days since its launch, according to the BBC. We return to the Reddit experiment: people responded more favorably to artificially generated answers, feeling more compelled by them than by human expression. Sure, they were outraged to be lied to, but their initial reactions are telling.
It’s easy to blame AI for the disassembly of the internet, but we play just as much of a part in tearing it down. Like Victor Frankenstein and his creature, we created something I’m not quite sure we’re equipped to handle. We might shun it later on, try to run from it, but the fact remains: it’s ours. Demand and supply. The internet we knew is dead, and we killed it; there’s no going back now.