Why the Internet will never die?
Authors from the Pitch Avatar team debunk a popular modern tech scare story.
One of the more striking ideas among techno-alarmists is the belief that the rise of artificial intelligence will gradually drive real people out of the online space. According to this theory, AI will eventually produce most of the content on the internet and carry out the majority of online interactions. In other words, machines will be responsible for creating and publishing various materials, commenting on them, discussing them, and responding to news events all while mimicking public opinion. Some take this idea even further, embracing a conspiracy theory that this “deadening” of the internet is already happening, allegedly with the backing of governments and major corporations.
At its core, the idea of a “dead internet” is simply a modern take on the old belief that technological progress destroys living art. Throughout history, techno-alarmists and techno-pessimists have predicted the death of painting at the hands of photography, of theater because of cinema, and of cinema due to television. Similar gloomy predictions have surfaced in almost every field imaginable, from carpet weaving to horse breeding and genetics. Needless to say, all of them have proven to be, at best, far removed from reality.
Perhaps the clearest example is chess, whose so-called computer-induced demise was declared the moment Garry Kasparov lost to IBM’s Deep Blue. Yet rather than signalling the end of the ancient game, the emergence of chess engines elevated it to a new stage of development and significantly increased its popularity. The reason is simple: people still prefer to play against other people.
Yes, a small group of enthusiasts may enjoy the challenge of playing against AI, but the vast majority of players, both professionals and amateurs, use artificial intelligence primarily to analyse games and study positions. In other words, they use it to prepare for matches against other human beings. We are naturally inclined to measure ourselves not against machines but against fellow carriers of natural intelligence. In truth, it is not the chess engines that are playing the game. It is their human creators and users who compete, using these tools as intermediaries.
Now let’s take a look at what’s really happening with the internet. AAccording to recent data, the number of social media users hit 5.22 billion last year — that’s 63.8% of the world’s population (Datareportal). What does this tell us? Simply put, we enjoy interacting with other people. When it comes to online content, we are primarily interested in human perspectives. Sure, we might be curious about what AI has to say, but usually it’s just to get tips on how to make our content better.
Yes, statistics show that more than half of people (65.8%) believe that AI-generated content is either as good as or better than human-created content (Authority Hacker). However, this assessment likely reflects a broader issue — the internet has become flooded with low-quality content due to the rapid expansion of online access. The emergence of various AI-driven solutions could actually help address this problem.
It is likely that in the near future, a significant portion of online content will indeed be created with the help of artificial intelligence. However, “with the help of AI” by no means implies “without human involvement.” In the “Human–AI” partnership, it is the human who provides the creative spark and therefore, remains the author. Just as the creators of a chess engine are, in essence, the authors of its games, studies, and solutions.
Of course, we can expect the appearance and limited spread of AI bots whose unscrupulous developers will attempt to pass them off as real people. However, dedicated tools will almost certainly emerge to detect and filter them. In this respect, the situation will not be unlike the ongoing battle against computer viruses.
Most importantly, this will not diminish people’s desire to connect with one another online. On the contrary, AI tools will help save time and reduce effort, making room for more meaningful human interaction. That is why the internet will never become “dead.”
