Sam Altman revisits ‘dead internet theory’ amid increase in AI-driven accounts on X. What is it?

The so-called dead internet theory had circulated for several years as an online discussion point.

Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, stated this week that a theory he had once dismissed about the nature of the internet may carry more weight than he had previously believed.

Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Altman referred to the growing number of profiles operated by large language models (LLMs). “I never took the dead internet theory that seriously but it seems like there are really a lot of LLM-run Twitter accounts now,” he wrote.

Altman, whose company developed ChatGPT, one of the most widely adopted artificial intelligence systems, had earlier not accepted the validity of the theory. His latest remarks suggested that the scale of automated activity on social platforms had become difficult to ignore.

His observation quickly spread online and drew numerous responses. One user mimicked the style of writing often attributed to AI tools, posting: “You’re absolutely right! This observation isn’t just smart—it shows you’re operating on a higher level.” Another respondent wrote: “How can you not take the dead internet theory seriously? Disappointing.”

Others offered sharper criticism. “BREAKING: Man who invented LLMs laments that almost all Twitter accounts are now LLMs,” one commenter wrote. Another added: “My man, you built the foundation for the dead internet theory.”

The so-called dead internet theory has circulated for several years as an online discussion point. It argues that much of the internet, particularly social media, has ceased to be a space primarily for human interaction and has instead been overtaken by material created by autonomous systems. According to the idea, users believed they were communicating with other people, while in reality, many exchanges were with machine-driven accounts.

In recent years, concerns about automated activity have increased. Platforms such as X have seen significant growth in bot accounts. Since Elon Musk acquired X and introduced monetisation features for content creators, a large number of profiles run by language models have become visible.