The conspiratorial "dead internet theory"—that most online activity is just a haze of self-perpetuating algorithmic noise—is not true, yet, but it sure seems like some people really want to get us there as quickly as possible. As reported by 404 Media, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has hastily deleted a swathe of experimental AI character accounts that were uncovered after a Meta executive indicated such content was "where we see all of this going."
Speaking to the Financial Times on December 27, Meta executive Connor Hayes stated, "We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms kind of in the same way that accounts do." Hayes further added, "They'll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform… that's where we see all of this going."
