A. Multiple choice
1. According to the video, approximately what percentage of newly published English websites are AI-generated or AI-assisted?
a) 10%
b) 35%
c) 60%
2. What does the Dead Internet Theory suggest?
a) The internet will soon disappear.
b) Bots and AI-generated content are making the web less useful.
c) People are spending less time online.
3. What is the potential «doom loop»?
a) AI repeatedly learns from AI-generated content, potentially reducing quality.
b) Search engines stop working completely.
c) Technology companies stop developing AI.
4. Why could AI threaten independent journalism?
a) It makes journalists unnecessary.
b) It reduces traffic and advertising revenue for original publishers.
c) It prevents people from publishing articles.
5. What does the video recommend?
a) Avoid all AI tools.
b) Trust AI summaries.
c) Check primary sources and support human journalism.
B. True or false
Automated bots generate more than 60% of web requests, according to the video.
AI-generated articles are always factually accurate.
Search algorithms may favour content produced quickly and in large quantities.
AI-generated misinformation can affect languages other than English.
The video recommends relying exclusively on AI search summaries.
Is the Internet Becoming a Place Where Machines Talk to Machines?
Imagine opening your favourite news website and discovering that most of its articles were written by artificial intelligence. Now imagine that the AI systems you use to search for information are learning from those same articles. Who is actually producing knowledge, and how much of it can we trust?
This concern lies at the heart of the Dead Internet Theory, the controversial idea that the internet is becoming increasingly dominated by bots, automated interactions and AI-generated content. Although the theory is sometimes exaggerated, it raises legitimate questions about the future of online information.
The rise of AI-generated content
AI tools can produce articles, reviews, social media posts and summaries within seconds. This technology offers enormous advantages, but it also makes it easier to flood the web with cheap, repetitive and potentially misleading material.
Critics have introduced the expression AI slop to describe low-quality content mass-produced by artificial intelligence. Some websites publish hundreds of AI-written articles designed primarily to attract visitors and advertising revenue rather than provide valuable information.
The problem becomes more serious when this content appears above original reporting in search results. Journalists who spend weeks investigating a story may find their work outranked by automatically generated summaries.
A dangerous feedback loop
AI systems rely on enormous amounts of data, much of which originally comes from human-created content. But what happens when these systems begin learning from material generated by other AI systems?
Researchers have warned about a phenomenon known as model collapse, in which repeated training on poorly curated synthetic data can reduce the quality and diversity of AI outputs.
This creates the possibility of a feedback loop: AI generates inaccurate content, that content becomes part of future training data, and subsequent systems reproduce or amplify the errors.
Meanwhile, if readers stop visiting original websites because AI search engines provide instant answers, independent publishers may lose the revenue they need to survive. In the long run, AI could weaken the very sources of information it depends on.
The human cost
The consequences extend beyond journalism. Health advice, educational resources and scientific information could also become harder to verify if unreliable content overwhelms trustworthy sources.
There is an additional challenge for multilingual users. When inaccurate English-language material is automatically translated into other languages, errors may spread across linguistic communities.
However, the situation is not entirely negative. AI can also help researchers analyse information, assist journalists and make knowledge more accessible. The real challenge is ensuring that technology supports human expertise rather than replacing it with endless recycled content.
Is the internet really dying?
Perhaps the internet is not dying but undergoing a profound transformation. The key question is whether users, technology companies and governments can protect the quality of online information.
For individual users, digital literacy is becoming essential. Checking primary sources, identifying authors and questioning suspicious claims are no longer optional skills.
Ultimately, the future of the internet may depend less on how much content we produce and more on how effectively we distinguish reliable information from digital noise.
Discuss
Why does the video compare AI to a parasite?
What are AI hallucinations?
How might the widespread use of AI-generated content affect health information?
Why could automatically translated AI content be particularly problematic?
What two actions can individuals take to support reliable online information?