Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian warns about the ‘death of internet’

Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, spoke on the dead internet theory, conceding that there is too much bot activity and AI

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian is concerned about the state of the internet. On Monday’s episode of TBPN, Ohanian, who was among the developers of Reddit, spoke on the growth of bots and the ‘quasi AI’ phenomenon in the web world.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian warns of “dead internet” as bots and AI dominate online spaces(Instagram/alexisohanian)

“You all prove the point that so much of the internet is now dead,” he said to the hosts of the show, as per AOL. He described much of the internet as “botted” and “quasi-AI” and talked about the excess of “LinkedIn slop.”

Dead internet theory

What Alexis Ohanian was referencing was the ‘dead internet theory’, which says that there is more bot-based content on the internet than real human activity. The 42-year-old suggested that there needs to be “live viewers and live content.”

“I think we'll see a next generation of social media emerge that's verifiably human, because it's all going down in the group chats now,” he added.

The dead internet theory has been discussed for some time now. Apart from Ohanian, OpenAI founder Sam Altman has also spoken about the problem, Forbes reported. He put out a post on X in September stating that the dead internet theory wasn’t taken seriously by him earlier, but his views have changed.

A Forbes article says that around 51 percent of activity on the web is generated by bots, as per cybersecurity firm Imperva. This humongous growth in bot activity is due to the growth of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). These two facilitate the growth of bots that are also used for malicious purposes.

Growth of dead internet theory

This theory emerged in the late 2010s and carried into the ongoing decade. It became viral on platforms such as Reddit. One post on a social forum was viewed 362,000 times. It presented a detailed theory on how the internet is largely devoid of human activity and most of the content is generated by AI, Forbes reports.

Though the theory was initially rejected by experts, the large-scale emergence of AI and the revelations regarding bot farms have made people take the theory seriously. With tech pioneers like Ohanian and Altman also talking about it openly, it is no longer in the realm of speculation but a reality.

FAQs:

What is dead internet theory?

This theory says that most of the traffic on the internet is generated by bots and AI and not actual humans.

Who is Alexis Ohanian?

Ohanian is a tech entrepreneur who cofounded Reddit. He is married to Serena Williams.

Who is Sam Altman?

Sam Altman is the founder of OpenAI.