'Dead Internet' Concerns Raised as Meta Plans Roll Out of Fake AI Users

Crossroads with Joshua Philipp

You may soon be seeing new engagement on Facebook, but this may not be from human users. Instead, it may be from AI bots, and you may be unable to tell whether or not you’re engaging with a real person. Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has announced it will bring AI-generated characters to the social media platforms in a move to increase engagement on the platform, and users will be able to engage with these bots.

This is raising some concerns over what’s been referred to as the “dead internet theory.” This used to be a conspiracy that much of today’s internet is bots and AI-created content, while human users have been disengaging. And there are also concerns that the bot content could be used to drive different narratives or agendas.