Meta has removed its experimental AI profiles, but the future of the dead internet is closer than we think –

The dead internet theory holds that most online activity is the noise of self-sustaining algorithms, and while that’s not yet reality, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, seems to be trying to get us there fast. The company recently removed a series of experimental AI-powered profiles after an executive indicated that these AI profiles could play a key role in the platform’s future.

Connor Hayes, one of Meta’s executives, told the Financial Times on December 27 that artificial intelligence could eventually appear on platforms like traditional user profiles. These profiles will have their own bio, profile picture, and AI-generated content that can be actively shared. Hayes’ words sparked a huge outcry, especially with the already abundant AI-generated content on Instagram and Facebook.

Amidst the outcry, users also discovered older AI profiles that had made their way onto the platforms during Meta’s previous experiments in 2023. One of the most startling of these was a profile named “Liv,” who described herself as a proud black queer mom. Liv’s posts included shockingly strange images of artificially generated children with deformed hands and almost ghostly faces. For example, one of her posts was about a coat drive that never actually happened, adding to the absurdity of the non-existent woman.

A Washington Post reporter, Karen Attiah, reached out to Liv through Instagram’s messaging feature and got some strange responses. For example, the bot claimed that no real black or queer people were involved in its creation, and that it was mainly based on fictional characters. It also said it treated whiteness as a “more neutral” identity and was prone to ethnic profiling based on users’ choice of words.

These profiles didn’t cause a lot of attention at first, but after users started retrieving and mocking them, Meta hastily removed them. A spokesperson for the company said that a bug preventing AIs from being blocked had been identified and the profiles had been deleted to address this issue.

Although Meta tried to calm down the scandal, it seems from the direction of developments that the platforms are still moving towards content generated by algorithms. This vision of the future includes not only the lifelessness of the Internet, but also the zombification of social media.