The Dead Internet Theory

**Discussion begins at 5:00**

Today, we are deep diving into one of the most mysterious theories of the 21st century: The Dead Internet Theory.  With the growing influence of AI, many people believe that the internet is slowly dying – not in a technical sense, but in terms of human interaction and creativity.  Have we reached the inversion point?  This is the point at which point the platforms have shifted from human creator driven to a system where bots, algorithms, or even AI tools are the ones responsible for generating the majority of content.  In their pursuit of profitability and user engagement, did platforms begin to rely too much on algorithms to curate content, automate interactions, and even generate videos based on trends?  Is the internet, as we know it, already dead, or is it merely transitioning into something unrecognizable? 

Transcript

What's up, guys?

It's Tuesday.

And, you know, every Tuesday, you're with us at 3SchemeQueens HQ, 3SQ HQ, Megan's house, mostly 90% of the time.

Yeah, nobody ever wants to come to my place.

No, it's true.

I asked me, I said, Colleen, do you want me and Joe to come over?

Yeah, to do chores.

Well, yeah.

I don't want to do chores.

No, Colleen, you're wrong.

Megan comes over, just rips apart my apartment.

That's it.

Hey, that is not true.

But I will say, can I just say, there's a Christmas tree in the corner that she put a blanket over the tree.

The Christmas tree was broken.

And to carry out a Christmas tree, I have to carry down two flights of stairs across the street.

It's like a half a mile, is what it feels like.

That's just to get to the dumpster.

Also to clarify.

And then it was covered in a blanket cause Benny kept eating it.

Also to clarify, it was not like a full grown Christmas tree.

It's a half, it's a half.

It's like a table top.

It's a half.

Yeah.

The Christmas tree feels like a big analogy for your brain.

Yeah, it's difficult to do.

Well, but I can't deal with it right now.

If I don't want to deal with it, I'm just gonna put a blanket over it.

Cover it with a blanket, yeah.

I do that often.

I just shove a pile in the corner.

But if it's piled up, it's not on the floor.

I don't know why I'm asking this question, because you guys are not big TV watchers.

But has anyone watched High Potential?

No.

No.

Okay.

She's a contractor for the police, and she just has a really astute sense of...

Where her things are?

No, in general.

She can go in just very detailed ways if she sees things that people don't see.

But she was talking about the different, I think I already told Kait this, because she was talking about the different organization styles, which I guess...

I know where my orange tie-dye sock is.

It's underneath all my things in the bathroom, right next to the trash barrel, and there's three pieces of paper next to it.

Kait just throws things out because she can't deal with them.

But also everything has a place.

But if something gets put out of place that's not where it's supposed to be, I will lose my mind, because I can't find it.

You go nuts.

I've seen it.

Yeah, the remotes, oh my gosh.

If the kids don't put them exactly back where they are, they know it's a trigger.

The other day, Joey was like, I can't find the little remote.

And I was like, you better look.

Triggered.

So there's four types.

There's the ladybug.

So they are stressed out by surface clutter.

They tend to have junk drawers or like baskets, bins to keep their mess hidden.

That is me.

You don't have a junk drawer.

I crocheted three baskets to put in my cabinets.

Right, okay.

So that I could like put stuff in them.

And then there's a bee.

Bees are very visual.

They love to see their unfinished works and typically have several projects.

I don't want to be a bee.

I hate bees.

They leave all their projects out, believing they'll come back to finish them.

My puzzle right now.

They like to hold on to stuff.

They think everything will have a future benefit.

Oh no, I literally kept like four pieces of trash the other day because I'm going to scrapbook them.

Like actual trash.

Okay, and then I think Kait, you are probably the cricket.

Oh, that's kind of cute.

Crickets prefer minimal clutter, love to micro-organize everything.

They prefer having an organization style that is very meticulous and hidden.

They prefer visual simplicity, which again, yes.

These are spirit animals, but I hate bees.

And then the last one is a butterfly.

Who would be that?

Where you like to have quick access to the things you love the most, not detail-oriented and organizing.

So is it time for our drink check?

Yeah, drink check.

What do we have in here, Colleen?

Insert robot noise.

We're drinking dirty bots.

Dirty bots.

Dirty bot.

Bot.

The theme today is robot.

So I will say, full disclosure, this is actually called a dirty robot, but dirty bot just sounded more on brand for our topic.

The only change in ingredient is adding a lime.

That's the only reason.

So it's just bourbon and ginger ale, but when you add a lime to it, it makes it a dirty robot.

Wonder?

I love this drink.

That is nice with a lime.

Yeah.

Really cuts it.

All right.

Colleen, what are we talking about today?

Today, we're talking about the dead internet theory.

I have an accent for you.

This is my intro.

Beep, beep, boop, boop, boop, bop.

Beep, beep, boop, boop, boop, bop.

Beep.

Are we even real?

Does anything actually exist?

Can you trust anything you see online?

Well, today's theory is going to make you question everything you've known or been exposed to since 2016.

Oh, on the internet.

Today, we'll be answering the infamous question, did the internet die and was everything replaced by robots and AI-generated media?

Did you know it was invented in the 50s?

The internet?

Oh, and AI.

Yeah.

I asked Megan to Google that today.

Really?

1950?

Yeah.

Allegedly.

I think it was thought of in the 50s.

Yeah, because they're like, what do you think of the future?

There was research happening.

I think it was late into the 60s before there was a robot created that could try to think.

Yes, I could think.

Well, essentially, that's what we're talking about today, guys.

Robots thinking.

Oh, no.

So the dead internet theory is the theory that the entire internet has now been replaced by bots talking to each other.

And it's like the belief that this has been an intentional effort to make consistent bot activity continue and grow to then push and manipulate the content we're receiving.

Every content you read and are exposed to has been manipulated by artificial intelligence to promote certain opinions.

So like political opinions or like the algorithm is all being driven by.

Yeah, this is kind of right.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

And the whole intention is to then control the population and limit organic human activity right out of the right out of the bot.

I 100% believe this.

Like I don't even think I have to disprove this.

Like I'm exposed to bot activity daily.

Okay.

I would say I did a very superficial look at this.

And I guess I'm still confused as far as like, I feel like there's really no question.

I'm sure you're going to give these statistics to us and information about that's going to support this.

But that like a lot of the internet activity is bots.

And it makes me kind of sad because like I get so excited when I'm like, oh, we have a new country listening to us.

Definitely probably a bot, especially based on what I've been reading.

Like you're saying like the Germans that are pretty hot in Germany, and you think that it's just a bunch of bots.

Maybe not Germany.

The bot was playing at Jimenez.

What's her name?

Gabriella Jimenez.

Yeah.

That would break my heart because it's about to end.

Why is that episode popping off right now?

I don't know.

But we digress.

Okay.

But I'm not sure what makes it the internet is dead.

So I guess the conspiracy should be called the internet is dying.

Yeah.

Because I think they're trying to say it will be dead when it is 100 percent robot activity and no natural human activity.

Okay.

Right.

So they're saying that at some point, and I will give you the numbers, but I want to talk about the history of the theory first.

But at some point, we are going to be outnumbered.

Yeah.

No, I can't.

Well, I think it seems like we're getting close.

We're kind of at the point is right now, I think we're going 50-50-ish.

Okay.

So that's my thoughts.

Like for sure, it's driven by AI and bots.

But what makes it dead?

Okay.

If you're saying it's 100 percent, I think we're not quite there yet.

Yeah, we're dying.

But that's the future probably.

Yeah.

I can't even conceptualize what the Internet is.

I don't even know.

Like I'm like, either you put a picture out there somewhere.

Where does it get saved?

How does it get to other places?

It's just somehow wired all over the place.

But then, where is it going?

Where is it stored?

But then it's just stored in the Cloud.

But what's the Cloud?

Don't get me started on the Cloud.

Yeah.

So what is the Internet?

What also is adding to this is that the bots and robots are using what we publish to then learn from us and create more.

So like ChatGPT, the GPT stands for generated pre-trained transformers that takes human activity to then learn from it and try to mimic that human activity.

So the more we put out there, the smarter they're getting to then recreate it back to us.

So eventually, we're no longer going to be able to detect that it's artificially created.

That's what I'm afraid of.

It's kind of what they're saying.

They're saying what we interact with is likely already a robot and we don't even know.

Yeah, humans can distinguish AI-generated text.

We're not even talking about these AI images that are popping up.

Yeah, this is just AI text that only 53% of the time, if given like an AI-generated text and being like, do you think a human wrote this or a computer?

Yeah, it's gotten smarter.

Okay, so 47% of the time, they can't tell the difference.

That's kind of terrifying.

Yeah.

And-

Well, I think people are getting dumber.

Well, like, are we even going to have a podcast?

Well, that's a whole other theory.

Are we even going to have a podcast eventually?

It's all just going to be AI.

I mean, we've put enough out there of our voice talking for a robot to mimic our voice.

No.

Yeah.

I just want to go dark now.

No.

I just want to go-

I'm already-

Let me talk about where this theory started, because it kind of aligns with-

well, it does align.

The theory started when AI media was really starting to get out there.

So this all started on the dark web, which I don't think any of you were ever on the dark web.

Okay.

But you were on the dark web?

Well, I know of it.

When I think of dark-

Pornography is a part of this too.

I'm not really going to talk about that.

But 4chan, do you know what 4chan is?

No.

So is that part of the dark web?

It's like an intro to the dark web.

The dark web, like you said, it's like where creepy lurkers are.

It's like that murder crime documentary about the guy killing kittens.

Don't fuck with the cats?

That's the dark web, like where people post videos, things like this.

It's all like forums, like 4chan is a forum.

Like a discussion board.

It's like Reddit, where people post things and questionable things and things like that.

The dark web, as we said, is like these dark things.

But what makes it the dark web is that it's not like searchable.

Oh, yeah.

So we can't go Google.

You're not going to find it.

How do you get to the dark web then?

You have to know like how to break into things like...

You need to be like, oh, is it like acrobooting and things like that?

Yeah.

Oh, Teru from SBU, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

In the 2010s, there was a 4chan user, which every website I went on through had a different username for him.

So it was 4chan users.

We're just going to call them that, guys.

Okay.

It's Internet Men.

Okay.

How do you know they're men?

Because they have their profile pictures.

Well, are they even their faces?

Anyways, so this 4chan user started noting interactions with an anon, which is just anonymous, like an anonymous user.

Okay.

He goes through a couple of different bullet points explaining like the timeline of what happened in the 2000s, specifically around 2016.

People on 4chan started reporting interactions with users, and then just randomly losing contact with them, and no longer ever receiving communication with them ever again, which made people think, were they even real?

Yeah.

Okay.

Then they started receiving on certain threads, seeing the same questions, the same pictures, the same replies, recycling on different chans of discussions over and over and over again.

So, but posted by different users.

So, who is recycling the same media?

Robots.

Right.

And then, they started noticing this one specific anon user, interacting with users, like asking and submitting questions, that they noted the wording to be really odd.

So, like you said about people being able to detect AI writing, this is an example of that.

So, this guy explains that everything was grammatically correct, but the way it was written just felt wrong.

Flow like you'd...

Yeah, he kept saying it felt childlike.

Oh.

Like a newborn robot.

Oh.

You know what I mean?

And specific...

Let's start on the dark web.

Yeah, well, 4chan, I don't know if you would call it the dark web, but it's like the entryway to the dark web.

So, this anon kept commenting things that, like I said, were grammatically correct, but felt childish, like odd English.

And the user kept asking the poster questions about their emotions.

No.

Like it was trying to learn.

Trying to learn.

Oh, I don't like this at all.

Yeah.

Oh, I don't like this.

Yeah.

And they started noticing this activity over and over again, and it all started around 2016.

So that's where the dead internet conspiracy theory began, because that's when 4chan users started reporting this.

And now, it's expanded past 4chan onto our today social media.

Yes.

So, you see it on Facebook.

I see it on TikTok.

You'll open a viral page, and the comment will be like thousands of different usernames, but the same thing over and over and over, like the same emoji over and over and over again.

Like not a joke, like not a meme, like not a trend, a robot.

So, that's what we see now.

So, and then another example of the dead internet theory was the memes, okay?

We've started getting memes that people think were not human created, were robot created.

My personal favorite is Raptor Jesus.

Raptor Jesus.

Which Raptor Jesus has a whole following.

I'm sorry, stop it.

The article that Colleen sent says it's Raptor Jesus and his roar-velation.

I would print that and put that on my wall.

And I mean that dead series.

He has a whole following.

So, well, I don't understand, like, what's his point?

If you read that article, it talks about like he's the reason why dinosaurs died.

But like, again, it's a meme.

It's mocking Christianity.

But people think it's robot made based on what they're learning about religions on the Internet.

Do you think it's like related to the humanoid reptilians?

That's what that's kind of what I thought when I first read it, to be honest.

I think a robot just randomly created a picture, and then it just became a meme and response.

Okay.

And then my other one is Foul Bachelor Frog.

I don't know.

It's just like something like a floating frog head that people have just put different say.

I think the reason why this one made it onto the list is because AI is creating like commentary around the head.

That's like not even funny.

Like it's just like random words put together.

Laptop charger equals foot warmer.

Who would put that?

That's what I mean.

Maybe.

You ever put your foot on your?

My friend got a second degree burn from her laptop charger.

Like new cousin just dropped.

That's funny.

I've heard that.

It's like when your baby cousin's born, new cousin just dropped, new album just dropped.

Read them out loud for us.

Keep clothes in three piles, clean, dirty, clean enough.

Right.

Clean enough.

Hola.

That's it.

Out of toilet paper time for a shower.

That one's funny.

Dishes dirty, eat out of a frisbee.

Yeah, I would do that.

I knew guys in college that did that.

The third meme, which I've actually used this one, is Pepe.

I love Pepe.

I think-

I've seen him before.

AI has just been putting him in things.

But what I did find interesting is if you Google these things, a ChatGPT pops up where it's like chat with Pepe.

Ew.

And like chat with Bachelor Frog.

I don't like things.

I have to say that I think-

Chat with Raptor Jesus.

I think ChatGPT has a benefit in like, I want to help outline this paper that I'm going to write, okay?

And you can ChatGPT.

Yeah.

And then you can use that as a guideline to go do your own research.

But I will say that when I ask ChatGPT questions related to podcast research, I think probably only 50 percent of the time do I actually get a correct answer.

Yeah.

Like I think it's very for like, everyone's all hyped up by it, but I'm like, it's very inaccurate.

I've never just used ChatGPT.

I didn't realize that that's a Google thing.

I just go to Google.

Well, it kind of takes me back to remember, you know, I know Colleen doesn't, but you remember Ask Jeeves back in the day?

Oh, yes.

Which by the way, in my notes, it says, Kate plus Meg will vouch because a lot of it was early 2000s info and like early 2000s internet.

And when I'm going to be honest, I really wasn't on the web until like at least 2009.

Well, Ask Jeeves was pretty much, I feel like kind of like what, I guess it gave you websites, right?

Yeah.

You had to ask it in a question.

It was a butler.

It was like Jeeves was the butler.

Oh, he had a voice?

No, but it was like his picture and the search, and you would type something like, I don't know.

And then it makes me really think about how many things are actually AI.

Like that little paperclip guy, Microsoft Word, was he AI?

That would be a really smart business move for Microsoft Word.

Clippy.

Microsoft Word to bring him back to ChatGPT outlines for your papers within Microsoft Word.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, maybe you should pitch that.

One of these days, I'm going to be a millionaire.

So the question is, has AI successfully drowned out majority of human activity?

Is it making online feel controlled, algorithmic, only to sell products and ideas?

Yeah, and I think 90 percent of the marketing I get on Facebook is AI.

I mean, I feel like all of it.

Instagram, your followers, it's like what your algorithm is.

Yeah.

From another, I think not maybe a way that we initially think about this, like the problems with this, but there was something about in 2016, Facebook got sued by advertisers because they were giving inaccurate information about their user behavior.

And then in 2018, eight people were accused of stealing $36 million in ad spending by faking advertisement.

So what it's saying is like, you're an ad, you are paying for your ad to pop up on Facebook, right?

And you say, I want 100,000 views, and so I'm going to pay X amount of money.

Right.

Well, if 90,000 of those views are bots, then are you, they're not quite the same.

Is that accurate marketing?

So now you're spending money on marketing that is not actually being received.

And that is kind of, like, I guess, that wasn't where my mind went to at first.

No, when I first was reading this, I was like, those freaking bots that bought the Taylor Swift tickets.

That's what I was thinking of.

Yeah.

I'm like, get the bots out of the music industry.

That's that's where I was like.

But I will spit out some facts.

So by 2030, experts predict the percentage of bot activity will be up to around 70 percent of the Internet.

So over majority, they're going to all be exposed to so much robot activity.

Yeah.

But also, what are these robots going to teach my kids?

Yeah.

I don't trust it.

By 2030, guys, that's like five years away.

I will still not have paid off my school loans.

That's what I think about now.

But majority of the Internet is going to be robot activity.

That's crazy.

My thought process was who's controlling the bots.

Yeah.

All of this robot activity is pushing things, pushing marketing, pushing views.

And so if you go to that original posting website...

I'm sorry.

What?

You say that the Internet is pushing views, much like TikTok?

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you scroll to that first page, Megan, the original poster, who was talking about dead the Internet there, if you scroll to the bottom, he has his own timeline, and it talks about how Google got ownership of certain GPT programming in 2016.

So like Google is pushing their own views on what you Google.

Well, 2016, it was like Google, Facebook.

It says between 2012 and 2016, Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.

Those are all big, big tech.

And then another Internet phenomenon that people started commenting on is this sudden new, these sudden new natural phenomena events.

Like people were like, why are there suddenly new types of moons?

Like blue moon, big moon, super moon.

I've never heard of super moon until this year.

Really?

I've heard of it.

Okay.

Well, how does that relate to the-

People think it's AI making these events up, and news reporters are just reporting on it, thinking it's something-

They're not-

it's not from the Farmers Almanac?

What is that?

You don't know what the Farmers-

Oh my god, the Farmers Almanac.

I know.

My mom still gets it.

Okay.

Well, I'm going to fact check you that, again, how creepy-

You're just going to talk about the super moon?

No, because you know what?

I should say I'm fact checking you, but when I type, I do also hate this.

And now when you Google anything, the first thing that comes up is like the AI-

Right.

Yeah, I don't like that either.

Thanks.

So I guess I'm part of the problem here that I'm like, well, AI says that super moon was a term from the 1970s.

That was just an example.

But people are being like, like there's so many-

The blood moon and all of that.

I'm like, there's just so many new events.

It feeds into one of the background theories of this conspiracy.

Like, why are they trying to get it robot controlled?

Why are they trying to push for all this AI-generated data?

It's because they want to keep us-

Who is they?

Exactly.

They want to keep us glued to our screens.

And it's called escapism.

They want us to stay distracted, stay hooked, stay scrolling.

And the only way they're doing that is by giving us artificial data.

I don't know.

I mean, I think for sure they, what, big tech and like the government, probably do want to keep us scrolling.

I don't know if they're creating-

Well, they're all, it's like the endless scroll, the endless content.

I mean, yeah.

Like, I used to go on Twitter and be able to hit the end.

Like, there wouldn't be anything new.

Well, I did have a crazy, what did I, I found a crazy Twitter.

Because you guys, because you remember that, like, Elon was going to buy Twitter now X, and then he was like, wait, I think there's, it's like not worth the $44 billion because there's too many fake accounts.

And then he got rid of them all.

And it says, yeah, they think that-

They think that somewhere between 19 and 19 million and 50 million Twitter accounts are just run by code.

They're just bots.

Like I talked about the memes.

Another example was a specific tweet chain that kept repeating itself.

And the tweet was just, I hate texting.

And then all the replies were, I hate hands.

I hate bed.

Like it was like, just none of it made sense.

It's just another example of just bots interacting with each other.

So weird.

Well, this is Facebook apparently has taken down 27 billion fake accounts.

So, I mean, yeah, that's kind of, you think you're interacting with somebody.

And then I started reading a lot more about another reason why these bots, another reason why somebody would use these bots.

And it brought up Dep vs.

Herd, and how there was this thing that's called hate farming, where bots would be commenting hate to then promote hate, targeting one side or the other.

I think that, I mean, you're talking about Dep vs.

Herd, but I think, can't we all agree, regardless of our, we have varying views in this group.

And like, can't we all agree, though, that for sure the internet is like-

Toxic.

Yes.

Tributing to divisiveness.

And well, and then I thought about Blake vs.

Justin, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, and what's going on with that.

And like, even I catch myself, like I was on TikTok getting all these videos about Blake Lively, and like one hour, I'd be like, damn, she's awful.

Then the next hour, I would get a different video promoting Justin.

I'm like, damn, he's awful.

I definitely kept texting.

I was like, wait, who do we?

And then I had to step back and be like, I'm just basing my opinions on the comments I'm reading.

Half the comments are probably robots.

Yeah.

Farming hate.

I have like literally switched over to my book account on Instagram because all I do is follow books, books and so I can like figure out.

And I have like mostly just scrolled on that because I'm like, it's refreshing.

So over all of the like opinions people put on Instagram.

I don't I'm not on TikTok or I don't really ever get on Facebook, but like Instagram is one that I use a lot and I'm just so over like how divided it is, how it feels like what Colleen said earlier.

It's like so toxic.

It's so toxic.

Divided.

It feels like people can't even like have conversations anymore.

People can't exist in a world where you have different opinions because it's just and it's all promoted on the Internet.

And it's like I can't I literally feel like I have.

And how much is a robot?

Yeah, but but it's like that is I guess I guess I'm trying to understand how.

Part of the algorithm, right, which is a bot, right?

When they're saying that like that that part of this, like these bots kind of inducing this, this like divisiveness and then people getting into like fights online sometimes with bots or whatever, how that is bringing people back.

And I don't understand like anything that makes me want to get off social media.

Right.

Yeah.

And this is talking specifically with the depth versus heard.

Somebody looked into the majority of the comments that were hate towards heard, which I don't I don't even remember half of it now because there's a whole doc.

Yeah, but not majority of the accounts that were really repetitively forcing hate or promoting hate for heard all came from Saudi Arabia.

They were all accounts based in one country, Saudi Arabia, meaning they were all robots, like every single one of them.

Wow.

It's crazy.

And then I started noticing like every once in a while, there'll be a trend, right?

Like a trending audio.

And so you get the same video over and over again.

And I'll be on TikTok.

I'm the only one really on TikTok in here.

And I'll get, I'll be on TikTok for a day.

And all I've gotten will be the same video to the point where I have to log off TikTok because it's boring.

Like I'll get the same thing because it's all robot.

Like back in my day, back in my day in high school, we had Vine and I felt like it was a different Vine every time you scrolled.

Like it was something different.

Everything I saw was different.

Now I go on websites or social media and it's all the same.

So apparently there was this, let's see if I can find it, but there was this like AI Instagram.

Oh, the AI influencer.

She started, yeah, so there's Instagram influencer came out.

Okay, she had like millions of followers.

She, and she, then it was revealed, it was discovered that she was not AI.

And somehow she continued, like no one cares.

So she's continued to get more followers.

She has millions of followers.

She's got like deals, brand deals with like.

Like Calvin Klein.

That's crazy.

And like these like big names.

And so first of all, we were lied to this, this person, this is all AI that created this account and everyone followed it.

And then once somebody revealed that it was, or like figured out that it was AI, it didn't stop anyone.

So like, I don't know, I just don't understand.

That stops me.

I see a Facebook AI.

I'm like, this is creepy.

And I'm like, what are you trying to learn about?

I click not interested.

Right.

And like right now I have, I know the skills to detect AI.

Like, you look at the eyes, 90% of the time there's no pupils.

You look at the hands, 90% of the time, the hands are disformed.

Okay.

And then you know it's AI.

Now, I feel like the hands are looking more normal.

Well, they say, like, it's always evolving.

I have to be honest, I don't know if I get targeted by AI stuff.

Oh my God, it's so creepy when you do.

Well, I don't know, I get, I mean.

It'll be like Taylor Swift pregnant.

And you're like, what?

And then you look at the hands and they're all like.

So I do know when I have done like AI, I tried to generate AI images.

I'm trying to think when I would try to generate images for I wanted a picture of JFK drinking a Bloody Mary and I could find one.

And I tried to just like AI one.

And I feel like, but I felt like this was again, like a year ago, I felt like everything, like they intentionally make mistakes, right?

Within nine or more.

I think, but I feel like now they don't do that.

They're getting smart.

Yeah.

And that goes into like the protests against AI art.

We were talking about this earlier.

There's a huge push for artificial generated art, and how it uses actual art to inspire itself.

I was telling her, I came in the day and I had the news on for Tanner, and I sat down and I got sucked in.

I always turn on the TV for the dog and then I get sucked in.

But there was a new story about how like Christie's is doing an auction of all AI art.

And they're like, well, people created this AI.

People used AI to make art, but they're saying that those people were probably influenced by other artists.

So it's like this AI art is all influenced by artists who are not getting reimbursed for like their idea.

Yeah, plagiarism.

Yeah.

My last thing that kind of feeds into like the dying internet, like why is it actually dead?

More so than not so much less human activity and actual like dead ends.

So there's this, I'm sorry, you're talking about the shrinking internet.

Yes.

And they, the specific vocab term that I learned is called link rot.

Okay.

So it's when content on a website becomes unavailable, and all links to it on other websites break.

And so that's what I was talking about a little bit with Wikipedia, where if you go to the Wikipedia credits and you click those links, they're all gone, like unavailable, unavailable.

And so the internet's getting smaller, and we're getting hyper-focused to look at one direction.

Well, in the other direction, everything's getting deleted and removed.

And so it's the searchable web.

More conspiracy theories.

And it's talking about the searchable web is becoming smaller and smaller.

And it kind of talks about how Google, for example, is becoming something that's called a Potemkin village.

Have you ever heard that term before?

Potemkin village is the idea of a construction, figurative or literal, where its purpose is to provide an external facade to a situation to make it better than it actually is.

So we have this facade that, like, the internet's huge and infamous.

But really, it's we're getting the same thing over and over and over again.

I believe that.

Well, I saw...

That's all I had.

Yes, one of these stats I wrote down.

So right now, between 2013 and 2023, 38% of websites just vanished.

They predict that in the next 20 years, as many as 98% of currently active links will be lost.

You may not be able to find this anymore, you know?

Yeah.

That's so sad.

Isn't that weird?

That is weird.

And, like, why are they getting rid of it?

I had, what is that?

Isn't there, like, a theory out there that's, like...

Hive mind?

Hive mind.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's kind of what we're talking about, really.

Like, it's, like, making us all think the same thing.

Right, which is scary.

Or making us fight.

Well, before I saw it, did one of you, did you send me this?

Was there something about someone asked AI if I wanted to take down America, how would I do it?

What a day, I say.

No.

Again, I can't fact check that this really happened, but some guy just goes, like, Hey, AI, if I wanted to take down America, I mean, if I would take down a country, how would I do it?

And AI gave, like, five things.

I think that's what AI...

Maybe you did send it, or maybe you sent it to me.

Someone sent it to me, maybe.

But it was like, I should come over right now, because it was very creepy, but it was like, you know, create divisiveness, let's educate the kids less.

It was like, it was all five things we've done, but I'm like, interesting.

So now we think that AI, these bots who are answering this question, it's just kind of creepy to think that, like, this is the AI generated answer that is pretty much...

It's like actively happening.

Is it based on what people are saying on the internet that's happening?

Also, I don't think I would have the balls, I'd be like, you're definitely on the CIA's watch list now, right?

Yeah, I don't think I would Google that.

Impervia is this company that publishes annual reports, it's a cybersecurity firm.

So in 2014, they published their first report, and that's when they said that humans accounted for 57% of the traffic.

But in 2024, it was down to 50.4 with bots making up 49.6.

So we are right at 50-50.

So in 10 more years, where are we going to be?

And there was YouTube employees actually came out in 2013 and talked about this, and they talked about it, they call it the inversion.

And this is the point at which...

So it all came about because YouTube was like, man, we have a lot of content creators who are getting so many likes and views, but they seem to be gaming the system.

Well, that's what they'll notice.

They'll notice an increase in likes, but no comments or something like that.

It's odd.

You wouldn't ever see that.

Well, and then I saw too that it's like usernames with numbers are suspicious, but I have numbers in all of them.

No, but I think like 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, like something like that.

Yeah.

So YouTube, they were getting concerned, like, oh my God, again, this is over a decade ago.

Are we reaching the inversion point, which is when the algorithms start identifying, since there's more fake material than real material, they start thinking the fake material is the real material.

And it like, so the computer can't even tell.

So now the algorithm flips.

And then I think at that point, when you're at the inversion, is what they're saying that that's when the Internet has died, right?

I mean, it sounds like that.

Yes.

Yeah, that's all.

AI and bots running the show.

And that's pretty terrifying that we are like, we are pretty much 50-50 right now.

We're like on the cusp of that.

I'm just going to quit the Internet, I think.

It freaks me out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're just going to cold turkey.

Quit the Internet.

OK.

I mean, like we I don't believe that my TV is the Internet.

Like I stream, I stream from it's different kind of from my files.

I get ads.

I don't know.

You're right.

I do.

I do doom scroll a lot.

And I'm always like, I shouldn't do this.

And then I do scroll.

Like I said, I start noticing patterns and I'm like, this is boring.

That's what's going to win AI.

People with ADHD, get rid of your patterns.

That's too boring.

You think the ADHDers are going to take down AI?

Me, independently.

I just, you know, who's going to take down AI is just people who just boycott the internet.

Like 65% of the population uses the internet.

So I'm like, actually, I'm kind of surprised that 35% is not.

Don't use the internet.

They must be out like, you know, maybe, maybe in like the sniffs.

Oh, like vegetative patients.

Oh my God.

Okay, that's dark.

I was thinking more like maybe people on reservations, although on my road trip, I went through some reservations and they were much nicer than I've seen on TV, but I'm sure they're not all that way.

No.

But I was like, maybe on like reservations don't have access or like maybe like people who are like in Africa or, you know, and like.

Oh yeah, third world countries.

Yeah.

We're so prolific here that we asked.

But then like of the people who are in the majority of them on social media, which is again, I think kind of the scariest part of the whole AI.

Because again, I'm like, we use, and I know people will say it's the candidates, but like I feel like we, it's not new to be like 50, 50 divided on political parties.

It's just like new to talk about it and to get so aggresive or whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that could be the players.

Or it could just be that we've never had like a...

Remember when we were younger and they were like the three things?

Nobody talks about it.

Money, politics, and religion.

Yeah.

And now, everybody talks about all of it.

All of it.

Not even, it's just like all of it.

And so, and not only do people talk about it, they talk about it in like hyperbolic, like ways that are supposed to, that are meant to like rile people up instead of just like, again, and then like you said, like social media, it's like, it's targeted to our emotions, right?

Like the algorithm wants us to get to it.

Well, also it learns from you, right?

So the more you like, or not even like, the more you click, or it tracks your screen time.

Like it tracks when you're paused on a post.

Like they get that data.

They get the data of how many times your finger touches your screen on their website.

I always think about that when I'm scrolling through Instagram, and sometimes like something will pop up, and it'll be like she has-

And you start swiping.

No, and I even swipe, but it'll be like she hesitated for half a second on this.

And they start loading it more.

And I'm like, maybe it was something, you know, maybe it was like dolphins, and I don't really want to see more dolphins, but it caused me to like-

So then they push more.

So like for like political things or other like high emotional topic, like if you pause on it, because you're emotional about that, it learns from you and then gives you more.

And it's like, I don't want that on my TikTok.

I want book recommendations and crafting ideas.

Right.

My whole Instagram used to be like food and like just like different recipes and stuff like that.

And now it's just like-

Exploded.

Yeah.

And I don't like it.

Like, I've like decided I'm like not even following people on like.

Well, that's and like on TikTok, I will only like the video if I really like the video because I don't want that to add to my data.

Like, I don't want it to I don't want what's marketed to me based on certain things.

So I'm like, I'm not liking that one.

I think I've gotten more generous with the likes because I as a content creator.

Oh, well, yeah, you feel bad.

Yes.

I know what it's like to work hard and then have.

I'll go back and unlike a video.

That's where I'm at.

I'm like, you know what?

That wasn't they didn't work hard enough.

And I'll scroll back and I'm like, yeah.

Oh, I'm a chronic liker.

I'll like anything.

I do.

Sometimes I'm like, oh, I am.

I'm also like sadness to Kait.

And then it's like, oh, Kait already liked it.

Yeah, you saw this already.

And then I said, now I'm really thinking about like Spotify is like all AI and what it recommends to you.

And so like I'll get annoyed because I'll get the same freaking style of music recommended to me.

Hamilton was coming on in the car today and she was like, no, because she was like, I did not.

Yeah, I was trying to unlike the songs.

Like I like Hamilton, but I don't want it to drive my algorithm.

So I'm unliking it.

Yeah.

I'm going through all of my like songs on Spotify.

I've had this Spotify account since 2014.

So like I'm trying to revamp what's marketed to me.

Yeah, valid.

Anyway, this is making me feel it makes you feel watched.

Like I feel like the computers are watching me.

It is, again, if it's changing the way we see the world and the way we think because we are now in these like bubbles that really bots, you know, encouraging our thoughts.

They have your number one superpower, which is your brain.

Like they're molding how you're thinking.

That is that is how they're doing it.

It's not that they have your information.

They're like, oh, who cares?

They know what kind of shoes I like.

No, they're literally molding how you think.

That is and like your brain is important.

It is the future of America.

It's the future of yourself.

It's the future of everything.

So like you should care about what you're putting into your brain and your body and all of the things, because that is literally going to mold the future of America.

How do you take down a country?

You take down a country from within.

But what you put into social media is what you get out of it.

What you put into the Internet is what you get out of it.

They learn from what you do.

So it's like, they're only going to mold what you give it.

But there was also this whole New York Times article that was run about the TikTok algorithm.

TikTok actually was suppressing the problems in China, the problems in, like, Gaza was one of them, and they were exploding on what they wanted Americans to see and get upset about, which is the problems, highlighting, like, again, Palestine-Israel conflict was a huge one that they were highlighting.

And it was this whole article about the things that they suppress, and then the things that they put on the algorithm to make people more emotional.

And I don't think that's them learning from you.

That's them making the information more available to you, to then learn from you.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, but they're only going to put videos on your For You page if they think that's what you're interested in.

Right.

Well, it takes one, if they're running all those videos constantly and they're pushing that, they have that, like, the abundance of it in the algorithm.

I'm just telling people, like, be careful how you interact because you're going to get more of it, is what I mean.

Like, because they're learning from you.

I hate AI, but AI is everywhere.

Like, it's not just tick.

You've said it Instagram, too.

It's and tick tock is just big right now because of the legal issues.

Yeah, everything.

But well, and I hate on tick.

It's the one that's not in the United States, right?

So now we have to worry about.

Yes, like other countries.

Yes.

Propagandize.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

The whole like what the fuck was up with Zuckerberg to Zuckerberg?

Oh, yeah, he's weird.

With Facebook.

He was like, yeah, he was like getting paid by the administration.

He was like doing whatever they wanted.

Now he's like, I was bullied into like, which was it, sir?

Were you paid or were you willingly, willingly with money in your hand?

Probably.

Yeah.

Like being paid to do something you had no problem doing.

Right.

And now, and now it's like 180.

Yeah.

I don't know.

It's crazy.

I don't like thinking about robots.

Also, the actual robots.

What's that robot called?

Rachel.

Do you know who I'm talking about?

Like she's actually a physical robot and her brain is AI.

Now, like her.

When they're now they can like feel emotion.

Yeah.

She cries.

No, that's weird.

I think whenever I think of AI, I just think of C-3PO.

From Star Wars?

I know who that is now, guys.

You didn't know who that was?

C-3PO was?

Not until we started this podcast and you guys, nerd alert over here, we're throwing out all of this hi-fi.

He's the man because, but his one leg is a different color.

Yes.

I thought he was all gold.

No.

It's a Mandela effect.

It's a Mandela effect.

He's got a different colored leg.

Just below the knee.

No way.

Yeah, way.

Really?

In every one or only certain movies?

No, I think in all of them.

It's just that really are because he did change, though it was up.

We talked about the use a different robot in some of them.

We talked about the Mandela effect episode because I think Kate had to tell me who he I don't remember that.

Yeah.

See, three PO.

Well, I'm reliving my Mandela effect.

So when the last Star Wars movie trailer came out, like I watched it and Bourbon Boy took a picture of me.

And there's this one moment that's like at the swell of the music in the background.

And it's like what is like C3PO?

What are you doing?

And he's like, I'm taking one last look at my friends.

And I just cried.

It's sobbing.

No.

So I started to cry and then he took a picture.

Oh, OK.

Yeah.

Classic.

Yeah.

I have I have the picture like he didn't cry for Lord of the Rings.

Does he like cried or in a movie?

Uh, no.

The dog.

Yeah.

You ever see Marley?

Me?

Don't know.

I'll tell you that.

I avoid all movies.

Her name was Colleen.

The little girl's name is Colleen, and she had a golden lab.

I had a golden retriever.

It was so sad.

I'm going to.

I'm also again.

There's like another meme out there that's like the wind blows and I cry.

No, no, that's like that's like I can't watch any movies where dogs die, but I will just fall asleep to like true crime.

Oh, yeah.

Mass murder.

Oh, 20 women got murdered.

I was watching.

OK, but sometimes I watch movies to purposely cry.

No, I know you do.

I will.

It's healthy if it makes me cry.

I don't want to cry during a movie.

Sometimes you have to plan it.

In college, I truly scheduled my cries.

I don't really cry in movies except on an airplane.

Oh, yeah.

But that's a fact.

Yeah, it's like you're more emotional in an airplane.

You're not supposed to make any big decisions before or after a flight.

Why?

In real life.

I've never heard that before.

And now I'm trying to think of any decisions I've made.

The jet fuel.

Have I made anything?

Have I made any decisions around a flight now?

I'm starting to really think.

Traveling itself is stressful.

Right.

And maybe you have some anxiety around that.

But then on top of that, just like the altitude and the lower air pressure.

So what does that say about people who live in high-altitude places?

They're just emotional?

That's a good question.

You know, that's when I start thinking like that.

Like I'm trying to, like Colorado.

They're happy.

Ippy dippy, you know?

They're very into there.

Are they happy?

They're very into their, like.

Are they happy?

Everybody in Colorado, anybody from Colorado listening to this, let us know how you're feeling.

I'm just thinking about, I'm just thinking about like now states that have higher altitudes, elevation.

How many people in California live in the mountain?

Well, I'm just thinking like, I was really just thinking like Colorado, and I was thinking Washington.

Oh.

Washington, Oregon, Colorado.

That's the summary of this episode, guys.

You can't trust anything.

Careful how you interact.

Look at the pupils in the hands.

Yeah.

The Internet's dying.

Stop liking.

Yeah, I guess that's what I think.

I would say the Internet.

If we all just stopped liking for a day, I would love to know what the bots would do.

Oh, they would be like.

But I don't even think it's just about likes.

That's what I'm saying.

I know.

I know it's not.

But I think a lot of it does have a lot of the data is based on what you like.

They get dopamine, but do they get dopamine from it too?

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know.

Can they now?

It's 2020.

2025.

I was reading this, and a lot of the numbers were like, by 2027, by 202030.

No.

For a second, I was like, is it 2027?

I forget to.

I was like, wait, it doesn't feel like 25.

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Kait, what should the people do?

Yeah, you know what I want you to do?

Take out your phone right now.

I want you to use AI to tell you which people to text right now.

Three people.

Say, AI.

Siri, text this person and have Siri text this episode to that person.

And then scroll on down, leave us a five-star review, leave us a comment, share us with your friends and family, like us on social media and follow us on wherever you follow podcasts.

Yeah.

Can you try to do all those things before you do Kate's internet boycott, okay?

Yeah.

Right before that.

Before you.

But only use the internet to listen to our podcasts, okay?

Yeah.

And follow us on Instagram because we're not bots.

No, we're definitely not bots, as you can note by the legs.

Also, you know what?

If this podcast were bots, she wouldn't have heard us all sniffling last week.

Yeah.

We recovered from-

And suddenly we sound normal.

The flu.

So, well, AI would have nodded sniffles, you know?

I mean, unless he was learning from us and was like, oh, humans have sniffles.

Also, is AI a he?

I think it's a they.

Yeah, probably a they.

Yeah.

You know what else?

I think this is sort of a precursor to Kate's topic next week.

The vid.

When she dives into it, she's been wanting to do it now since the podcast started.

I'm doing it.

I'm doing it.

She's going to cover the vid.

And I think there's a lot of talk about like what our government and what China was posting on social media.

Listen, I have been asking and begging and, and like, we said it was too soon.

Megan, like, we need to do COVID.

We need to do COVID.

It was too soon.

And they kept saying it's too soon.

Now it's on TV.

Just to be clear, as you all have figured out by now, we are all health providers.

We all, we all worked a reveal through COVID.

And, and it just felt like too soon to kind of make a mockery of that.

But while we can all agree that COVID was real, but there are a lot of conspiracies behind it, around it, right?

Right.

No one is saying that like, COVID, we're not saying COVID's not real.

Yes.

So I guess I was just feeling like, it's kind of like 9-11 people died.

I think we know a lot of people who are going to be traumatized.

And so I thought it was too soon, but Kait's talked me around.

And I read the summary, the White House summary of the findings.

I watched.

Thank you, Dr.

Fauci.

And I can't wait to hear what Kait tells us.

Let's ask all these questions next week, guys.

Okay.

See you next week.

See you next Tuesday.