{"id":12724,"date":"2024-10-16T22:04:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T22:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zenmedia.com\/?p=12724"},"modified":"2024-10-22T17:16:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T17:16:55","slug":"the-rise-of-ai-dead-internet-and-dark-social","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenmedia.com\/blog\/the-rise-of-ai-dead-internet-and-dark-social\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of AI, Dead Internet, and Dark Social"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2020<\/a>, AI-generated content was a novelty. In 2024, it\u2019s a nonstop avalanche. Most of us have already experienced the weirdness of scrolling through LinkedIn and realizing that every third post and comment is written by a robot. It\u2019s not a stretch to imagine that by 2030, AI content could even further saturate the internet. So, if you\u2019re feeling a little lost in the matrix, you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent study found that humans can distinguish AI-generated text from human-written text roughly 53% of the time<\/a>\u2014that\u2019s just barely<\/em> better than making a random guess. And this spans all levels of education and expertise. For example, in a healthcare-related study also published this year, healthcare professionals were only able to correctly identify if abstracts (content) were generated by human or AI 43% of the time<\/a> on average, with accuracy ranging from 20% to 57%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, sophisticated AI models trained on incredible amounts of data can now produce increasingly human-like content at sci-fi speeds. And that\u2019s leading people from all walks of life to wonder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did a Human Really Write This?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2026And how much will that matter moving forward? Because experts predict that by 2030, up to 99.9% of online content could be AI-generated<\/a>. That means we’re potentially looking at a future\u2014one that\u2019s, you know, only five years away<\/em>\u2014where finding authentic, human-created content online might be like searching for a needle in a very large virtual haystack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does this mean for B2B marketers and content creators? And how can businesses ensure their message doesn’t get lost in a cacophony of AI-generated noise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a B2B marketing agency, we\u2019ve definitely got a horse in this race, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re exploring what\u2019s really going on with AI content creation, including unmasking the Dead Internet Theory and the untapped potential of dark social. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join us as we go down this rabbit hole because the future is here. It\u2019s been here. And for those of us who grew up with dial-up, it might feel like things are coming full circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dead Internet Theory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, there were filter bubbles<\/a>, where everyone from cyber experts to presidents<\/a> began warning the world about the dangers of the echo chambers created by pushy algorithms sending targeted, specific content to internet users (which is to say, basically all of us). Today, with the advent of AI and all the creativity and power it promises<\/a>, we\u2019re also faced with the following dystopian concept: The Dead Internet Theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dead Internet Theory suggests that the majority of internet content and traffic today is generated by bots and AI, not humans. This concern has been gaining traction for a while, with articles popping up yearly in outlets like New York Magazine with titles like \u201cHow Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, A Lot of It, Actually<\/a>.\u201d Naturally, conspiracy theorists who\u2019ve really run with the notion allege that the internet \u201cdied\u201d in 2016 and governments are using it to shape public perception, and so on. And after researching this topic, I\u2019m all out of tin foil, believe me. But like all conspiracy theories, there is a grain of truth to the paranoia:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There Really Are a Ton<\/em> of Bots Out There<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For example, Thales\u2019s 2024 Imperva Bad Bot Report<\/a>\u2014a global analysis of automated bot traffic across the internet from a cybersecurity perspective\u2014revealed that 49.6% of all internet traffic <\/em>came from bots last year. That\u2019s 2% more than last year and the highest level recorded by the company since it started monitoring this back in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same report emphasizes that every industry has a growing bot problem<\/a>, from gaming to retail, from travel to law and government, and from entertainment to financial services\u2014you name it, and advanced bots capable of evading cybersecurity defenses and <\/em>mimicking human behavior are steadily and steeply on the rise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar report from a different agency regarding web scraping\u2014the process of using bots to extract data from websites\u2014explains that 65.3% of bot traffic comes from malicious bots<\/a> capable of compromising login credentials (phishing), degrading or altogether derailing website performance and availability (DDoS attacks), and generally polluting site metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait, there’s more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Search Giant\u2019s SEO Scandal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Google acknowledged<\/a> a surge in search results featuring websites that seem to be created for search engines rather than human readers. Google even admitted that generative AI is playing a significant role in this content explosion, potentially pushing more valuable human-made alternatives further down the search results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, a few months later, Rand Fishkin of SparkToro published a bombshell article<\/a> detailing how Erfan Azimi, an SEO practitioner, had contacted him and shared piles of leaked data and API documentation from Google\u2019s Search division. This data revealed that generative AI websites aside, Google hasn\u2019t been truthful with marketers about what really<\/em> influences search results\u2014for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our CEO, Shama Hyder, explained in a LinkedIn post<\/a> about this issue, \u201cIt\u2019s a meritocracy, and it is not<\/em> a level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: <\/em>How 16 Companies are Dominating the World\u2019s Google Search Results<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, not only does the world\u2019s top search engine deeply curate SEO results<\/a>, it’s also like we’ve entered an SEO twilight zone where content is optimized for algorithms instead of actual people\u2026in order to reach actual people. And any marketer or content writer with SEO experience will tell you: In an effort to try to compete with the \u201cBig 16\u201d Google-favored, first-page companies, content has to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n