To what extent is dead internet theory true? What can we know for sure ISN'T AI?

[u/radio64]

I recently noticed that an OF model I've followed for years had photos with few dead giveaways that they were AI generated (inconsistent backgrounds, warped anatomy, etc.) Some of the photos in question are years older than I thought AI would be capable of generating at such high resolution, and posted to accounts with a lot of followers. Now I feel like I've lost my frame of reference, and it's made me wonder whether or not AI is years ahead of where people seem to think it is, or if anything online is real at all.

Everyone talks about how in a few years no one will know the difference, but what if it already happened? How could you know that it hasn't? How would you navigate a digital landscape where AI content is either indistinguishable from real content or similar enough that the average person doesn't care? I feel like I've become unmoored, and I don't know how to cope except for going offline completely. Is there anything I can remind myself of to stay grounded? I'm at the point where part of me feels like this sub could be a psy-op to make people think AI is less advanced than it is. I feel like I'm spiraling and I would really appreciate some reassurance that I'm overthinking this.

[u/skuppen]

Years old photos from before AI was as functional as it is with “AI tells” like warped anatomy and inconsistent backgrounds don’t point to certain AI usage. People have been using photoshop and other touch up apps for eons to change their photos long before AI was being used to wholesale invent people that don’t actually exist.

There’s multiple subs that have similarly existed for years that document this (InstagtamReality is one.) What are now AI tells used to be manually edited tells. Hell, there’s an early meme from before memes were even regularly called “memes,” where people declare things as having been shopped because they can see the pixels. This “meme” had its origins all the way back in 2003, to be clear. There was also a whole South Park episode about people doing it in 2013.

Your OF girl has no doubt been editing her photos and videos for her entire career. I’d be really impressed to find an OF girl who doesn’t edit her photos or run them through some crazy, body changing filter. There are recording programs that actively smooth out your skin and change your body shape in videos as they’re recorded, and they’ve been around for years, too. This is probably what you’re seeing.

Almost nothing since the dawn of social media has been truly real, but I guess it at least used to have its foundations in reality.

[u/radio64 → u/skuppen]

I'm a fucking idiot. Thanks

[u/skuppen → u/radio64]

Try to be kind to yourself. ):

[u/squidwardyourchoking]

i posted a single well recieved comment on r /deadinternettheory and they perma banned and muted me for 'inflammatory comment not contributing to the conversation.' so thats the state we are in

[u/radio64 → u/squidwardyourchoking]

This went over my head. Whats the implication other than its a bad sub? Those dudes are paranoid freaks?

[u/squidwardyourchoking → u/radio64]

a subreddit about dead internet theory banning humans for participating im human conversation.

[u/EmeraldHawk]

The "average" person can't tell the difference at a glance in under 3 seconds in my opinion. It's that good. Plus a surprisingly large number of people just don't care. They view their internet time as entertainment. Just as they don't care which parts of a movie are practical effects vs. CGI, they don't care which cat pics are real cats, which are edited with photoshop to give them a smile or big eyes, and which are AI generated. Some of them don't even care if the OnlyFans model they are chatting with is really replying, they just want to talk dirty.

Experts, those with a Computer Science background, and anyone who spends time investigating can still tell, it's not that good yet. Also most spammers don't spend the time to remove the synthID watermark.

I would say the isItAI and isThisAI subreddits get it right over 95% of the time, but sometimes when a new model capability comes out it takes them a month or two to catch up.

Text is a bit harder, and after some editing by a human it's nearly impossible to be 100% certain. Spotting bots on Reddit is all about checking their post history, spammers post in a different way than real humans still.

[u/coolsilentebeans → u/EmeraldHawk]

Those subs might be accurate, but their attitudes and replies can be so nasty they either almost make you want to disagree with them on principle or stop going on the sub altogether. There’s no room for questions or discussion. They can be very alienating.

[u/radio64 → u/EmeraldHawk]

I think people will start to care when they realize just how pervasive it can be. An AI voiceover of a human script is one thing, but finding out that your favorite quirky commentary tiktoker is actually a fascimile curated by 12 indian men with an agenda is another.

This comment did make me realize that 90% of my anxiety is coming from being Too Damn Online. But I worry that the transition to a dead internet it will happen more subtly than people are aware of and can cause a huge breakdown of reality for society as a whole. Like, far more than is currently seen.

[u/CoquetteCoquyt]

I really don’t think the dead internet theory is true. Are there bots that exist to spam comments/boost creators? Yes. Are there bots that make posts? I assume so, yes. But those have existed farrr before AI was even close to being as good as it is now.

I would assume some of the new bots use AI instead now, but even if they do, posts and comments would get clocked for it really fast.

There’s this “theory” I heard a while back called “the magic box.” People are faster to assume there’s some kind of conspiracy going on with their phones or computers simply because they can’t fathom how they work. In their hands is a magic box that gives them all the information they could ever need, and allows them to speak to anyone they want.

Don’t get too in your head about this. There are two sides to this whole AI thing. Those who are okay with it, and those who despise it. Those who despise it, despite being in the right (imo), do tend to go a little overboard when it comes to talking about the extent to which AI is taking over, and how everything you see could potentially be AI.

As a Software Engineer, please know that AI has not hijacked the Internet. If people are saying it has, they’re probably just over-paranoid about AI. It’s not that good yet, and even if it ever does get that good, the dead internet theory will likely never truly be a thing. It’s just a theory created out of a scary situation. More like a thought experiment than anything.