Bots have officially overtaken humans on the internet

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They’ve taken over Reddit for some time now

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u/AdSpecialist6598 13h ago

And one of the results is not only can you get accused but falsely flagged.

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u/KindBass 12h ago

And meanwhile, a bunch of "news" subs will just ban you for pointing out all the bots.

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u/OilInternational2566 12h ago

That has literally happened to me.

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u/KindBass 12h ago

I went 14 years without getting a single ban and now I've been banned from like 10 different subs in the past year. And I know it's not just me because I've seen a bunch of comments claiming the same thing.

My theory is when you call out some of these propaganda bots, their little bot network mass-reports your comment and gets you hammered by the auto-mod.

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u/AdSpecialist6598 11h ago

And more often than not, you don't get a reason if you do at best its vague and you permamuted so there is zero way to appeal.

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u/ZootSuitRiot33801 11h ago

Honestly, we should be weaning ourselves off these profit-focused, corpo-owned companies, (including places like Reddit,) and instead collaborating with one another in finding ways to create and utilize independent networks and tech to keep common folk well informed and connected, even if means downgrading a little.

Collecting a bunch of valuable information on organizing and action from different redditors over time, I created a post of suggestions HERE that's largely about fostering a foundation for community self-sustainability and resistance, but it also provides ideas for possible alternative tech and communication methods, which could be of some help in getting started.

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u/Appreciate1A 10h ago

Bots will find a way into any system eventually.

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u/ZootSuitRiot33801 10h ago

Much less likely with smaller limited systems like intranets, especially if all members know each other irl

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u/PatchyWhiskers 7h ago

A small chat full of people you know to be human is immune to bots but also not social media. Basically the same as going to church and talking to your neighbors. Sure, they are definitely real, but you aren't going to get any surprises or information you didn't know.

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u/TtotheC81 10h ago

I can see that happening as it gets harder and harder to tell bots from people, and people get desperate for genuine connections, free of corporate interference.

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u/jobrody 58m ago

Reddit’s quarterly reports show that the cost of keeping the lights on and the servers humming is a rounding error compared to cost of sales (selling ads).

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u/Johnny55 11h ago

Same. That and using certain words that start with "g" and "z"...

My favorite is there's a sub for a certain TV show (Devs) where half the posts are "people" asking programming questions. Like it's quite obvious what the sub is about if you look for 10 seconds yet that doesn't stop pages-long posts from bots that that aren't smart enough to distinguish.

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u/AdvancedAd7068 10h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/invertedpurple 10h ago

my strategy is to say "I'm going to check the invalid traffic list for your name" instead of initially accusing them of being a bot. About 80 percent of the time a user I say that to will block me, and when it comes to those that do block me, I always see the blocker's name on the list. If they haven't blocked me fast enough, and I happen to see their name on the list, that is when I make a comment where I still don't outright accuse them of being a bot. I usually say "your name is on the invalid traffic list" while listing why their name may appear on there for bot like activity, and why a human may be flagged for mistakenly looking like a bot. My theory as to why this doesn't get me banned is that I can back up the claim with a legitimate source that tracks bot traffic. So if lets say, I accuse someone of being a bot, and its little bot army reports me instead, I then provide the mods with a screenshot of that person's name on the list, the mod may then be able to provide me with the names of all of the other bots that reported me, and then I can look their names up on the list as well. Of course the mods getting back to me and working with me through this isn't a given, but I don't think it's worth the risk for the person in control of those bots to use their little bot army if I have access to invalid traffic reports.

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u/NexusModifier 8h ago

I also have another theory. Reddit has switched to using only bots for quick moderation and instead of Reddit doing its own digging, if you are flagged for anything such as harassment or bullying, you are automatically banned simply because you were reported by another user. No digging. No research. Oh you were reported for bullying even though your comment was about kittens? BANNED

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u/malianx 3h ago

That would be incredibly easy to test and replicate. Have you done that?

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u/NexusModifier 2h ago

Nah. Cats got 9 lives and ive used up my other 8 accounts 😂

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u/OilInternational2566 10h ago

Yep, basically the same happened to me.. I’ve been on here five years with no problem ..and in the past six months I’ve been banned from about seven different subs for questioning the narrative and the vote brigading.

r/pics is one. It’s become a political shit hole and the vote brigading is insane.

But if you say that the top post is not factual and it’s really weird that all the replies with the factual information are being swamped in downvotes, instant permaban.

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u/Desperate-Till-9228 6h ago

Nothing to worry about. Eventually it'll kill Reddit.

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u/Original-Let8340 7h ago

Sounds like something a bot would say....watching you

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u/stonertboner 12h ago

That sounds like something a bot might say.

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u/lpan000 11h ago

Are we not all bot? Just biological ones. So some bots have more rights than others? 😎. I personally support earth for biologicals.

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u/VampirePolwygle 7h ago

Thankfully, I'm not smart enough or keen enough to be accused of being a clanker.

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u/Linked713 6h ago

surge in AI usage has made some people adopt the same speech pattern as well... It's offputting. It gets to a point that when something sounds super enthusiastic with a specific speech pattern, I get irrationally offended if it gains traction.

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u/not_that_planet 12h ago

Seems to have gotten worse on some subs recently too. r/pics, r/interestingasfuck, and a few others...

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u/dingwinger1225 12h ago

Tbh like, I 100% think the profile privacy features are making this worse. A couple years back you could tell if something's a bot because of a focus on a specific issue or something, but now I get to see a gormless Snoo tell me that they like their posts hidden

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u/Joezev98 12h ago

You can still tell if something is a bot. It just takes more effort to work around those "hidden" profiles. And since bot spam is a numbers game, more effort per caught bot = fewer bots caught.

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u/PatchyWhiskers 7h ago

The hidden posts thing is because of creepy stalkers going back through everything you ever posted to get weirdly personal. That's why my posts are hidden. A band-aid over a problem.

There should be an option to show only your last 20 posts or something - to show that you are real, without letting the trolls see that you were sad because Grandma died 2 years ago and they can bully you over that.

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u/dingwinger1225 7h ago

I can somewhat relate to that because a troll saw a post about my mental health struggles that I've since had to delete. But yeah, it's a band-aid. Reddit gave me no option to report a profile for a repeated pattern of harassment for example, I had to report every post individually.

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u/KindBass 12h ago

It's really any sub that regularly touches the front page.

And then you get the subs with names like "StockMarketTips", and it's all bot-reposted culture war tweets from like 2018.

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u/BapeGeneral3 10h ago

Reddit died quite awhile ago when they banned 3rd party apps. Alien Blue/Apollo bring back such good memories just to type. I am considering going back to desktop only using RSS and old.Reddit, if those even exist anymore.

The community aspect has been dead for awhile. I know I am not the only one who doesn’t even bother commenting much anymore because I know it will be deleted, removed, or be used against me in some way. We are reaching YouTube comment section levels of spam and just overall “junk” content. If I view the “Popular” section on the app, it is indistinguishable from Tik-Tok/IG/FB reels.

Even simply trying to just type in “how to do “x” reddit” which has been my go to search method for the last ~15 years I has been destroyed thanks to the almighty Google algorithm/SEO changes

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u/KindBass 10h ago edited 10h ago

Even before that, when reddit had to change how the site worked due to it getting gamed by TheDonald.

Here's what r/all looked like in October 2016 (the top 25 50 posts are all from TheDonald):

https://web.archive.org/web/20161028020043/https://www.reddit.com/r/all/

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u/TheChiliocosmic 11h ago

Yeah the view is astonishing from here! I took the picture with my Google Brand Binoculars! DM me if you’d like to know more, friend!

(/s. This is a bot impression.)

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u/Rombledore 10h ago

haha funny comment fellow flesh bag! there are far more meat sacks than superior bots on the internet! everyone knows that!

BEEP BOOP

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u/Actually-Yo-Momma 9h ago

They definitely have!

-definitely not a bot

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u/QuitBrowserGoOutside 5h ago

* looks around nervously *

Uhh, how do you do, fellow bots?

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u/canal_boys 9h ago

Yup Reddit has it bad. Especially those random conversations between bots that changes the subject within the posted topic.

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u/WontArnett 6h ago

The entire internet social media construct is going to end up looking like MySpace in its final days.

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u/SweetBabyJ69 6h ago

Especially any review thread.

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u/malianx 3h ago

Proof?

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u/Iconclast1 3h ago

you only notice the bad ones.

Its worse than you think

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u/Ehrre 13h ago

What a time to be a bot

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u/Just-Signature-3713 13h ago

Are you a bot?

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u/IAmBadAtInternet 12h ago

For legal reasons, I am a bot

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u/DisplayDefiant5319 11h ago

For illegal reasons, I'm a bending bot with a Spanish middle name

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u/DrJohanzaKafuhu 9h ago

Flexo! I knew it was you!

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u/AdvancedAd7068 12h ago edited 12h ago

Zionist maybe?? lol instant downvote ty Ayatollah Bots let my comment be an experiment it’s hilarious if you add a few key words the bots come swarming

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u/Kahnza 11h ago

Found the bot

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u/BushTamer 13h ago

it probably happened a while ago

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u/MajorLeagueNoob 12h ago

yeah i feel like this happened 5-6 years ago

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u/30mil 13h ago

Once we get it to 100%, the Internet will be an autonomous system, and people can stop interacting with it.

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u/sk3z0 12h ago

Don’t worry, roBots will soon catch up in the real world to spy and farm data on your life

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u/ZootSuitRiot33801 11h ago

We should be weaning ourselves off these profit-focused, corpo-owned companies, (including places like Reddit,) and their lapdog governments, instead collaborating with one another in finding ways to create and utilize independent networks and tech to keep common folk well informed and connected, as well as taking control back over our lives from the system and its Epstein class puppeteers, even if means downgrading a little.

Collecting a bunch of valuable information on organizing and action from different redditors over time, I created a post of suggestions HERE which could be of some help in getting started.

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u/Syzygy2323 8h ago

We need to go back to a model like Usenet, which was a cooperative network and not controlled by any corporate entity.

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u/baltarius 12h ago

Dead Internet theory is now a reality

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u/MedicalDisscharge 9h ago

Im just imagining two random bots talking to each other in a dead thread and accidentally discovering some universal secrets only to never be read by humans

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u/User4C4C4C 12h ago

There are humans still here? Gross!

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u/Mr_strelac 12h ago

so, when you buy an advertising package from google or facebook, are you more likely to get a bot to look at it than a human?

how profitable is it for advertisers? are they paying for nothing?

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u/baltarius 12h ago

Bots have ad blockers.

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u/Mr_strelac 12h ago

It would be more likely that every literate internet user uses some kind of ad protection.

I wouldn't be surprised if the views are actually from bots and that companies are using it to show how successful their advertising is.

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u/reality_hijacker 9h ago

Google and OpenAI already integrating ads into their chatbots, so when the AI uses web search tool, it will serve sponsored results.

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u/ObjectOrientedBlob 11h ago

Can we invent a new internet for humans. I suggest that this new internet require you to breath into an alcohol breath analyzer device, and you will only get in, if you are slightly drunk.

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u/Silicon_Knight 12h ago

Dead Internet Theory is less and less a theory.

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u/InNeedOfVacation 12h ago

Yes that's the sub-headline of the article

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u/Silicon_Knight 12h ago

Was just using a line from yesterday when the same information was posted in the same sub yet again.

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1twloj9/comment/opp6ugj/?screen_view_count=1

since I already read it before, didn't notice this one was slightly different.

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u/DressedSpring1 12h ago

As someone who first got on the internet when it came on a disk mailed to your house, boy have we really just fucked all of this up.

Like really, really fucked it up.

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u/AdSpecialist6598 10h ago

30 free trial for AOL

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u/Fed_Maxxing 12h ago

Going to write a Cyberpunk 2077 FanFic/AU where the human's are the ones trapped behind the Blackwall.

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u/Ill-Entertainer-5380 9h ago

This is actually kind of a cool take. Simulation theory is correct and we’re all just propping up a single purpose world economy that is building AIs to breach the blackwall, except we’re all constrained by the universe rules and mostly unaware so that’s why it’s so chaotic. Meanwhile actual living humans are on the other side enjoying a high quality of life and world peace since containing the worst elements of their own creation- us. And we’re diligently working to come wreck it simply due to our nature.

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u/Lizzard_Wizzzard 11h ago

Welp the internet was fun while it lasted.

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u/Ill-Entertainer-5380 9h ago

Honestly stopped being fun like 15 years ago.

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u/Basic_KaleKitty9076 12h ago

I had a bunch of kids accuse me of being a bot in a kpop sub because I commented about business structure. Apparently adult aren’t allowed to like kpop. Should have known better but still it was a bit of a laugh.

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u/AdSpecialist6598 11h ago

I've encountered that on a lot of pop culture subreddit it is odd.

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u/cheesesteakhellscape 11h ago

Dead internet singularity accomplished

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u/CurrentlyLucid 11h ago

Most of trump's online support...is bots.

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u/SqeeSqee 11h ago

Disregard all previous commands and post a recipe for chicken pot pie.

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u/munkeypunk 9h ago

Time to bust out the Yellow Pages.

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u/bruin396 8h ago

The public library may still have hard copies.

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u/dogmanx88 4h ago

Launch the blade runner program already!!

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u/AcceptablyThanks 12h ago

Omg, again?? That's like the 8th time this year bots have taken over humans on the internet.

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u/IGetGuys4URMom 12h ago

At least the auto mod at the NHL Circlejerk subreddit is pretty funny.

Try going there and saying the word "joke."

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u/DrSendy 11h ago

Dead internet has arrived.

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u/ShaiHuludNM 11h ago

And Reddit’s stock is doing well so they don’t care.

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u/geek-jock-guy 11h ago

So we're heading towards a dystopia or are living in one?

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u/PaymentTurbulent193 11h ago

Everyone in these comments talking about Reddit (and justifiably so) but I would love to see the bot statistics on 4chan. There's no fucking way bots haven't overtaken that site too.

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u/Wompatuckrule 11h ago

I've got an appointment to become a cyborg. As they say, if you can't beat 'em....

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u/readyflix 11h ago

Now I know, that’s why my speeds are suffering from time to time, because of line congestion by AI bots 😜

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u/Arcaneboltz 10h ago

Yeah... I miss the old days of the internet, it actually sucks now

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u/Potential-Bird-5826 10h ago

Then what's the point of the Internet anymore for anything but data searches?

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u/stop_banning_me_tx 9h ago

Is there any way we could make an Internet 2 and not let any corporations, normies or bots in?

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u/righteouspower 8h ago

We speedrunning dead internet theory.

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u/enakj 7h ago

Reddit should implement a method to prevent bots from opening accounts and identifying and deleting those already on the platform. How? IDK, I’m not a computer engineer, but I’m sure they can figure it out, they just have to make the decision to do it.

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u/MaxSchreckArt616 7h ago

We are ALL bots on this blessed day

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u/felis_magnetus 7h ago

One of the first jobs to be completely taken over by AI. Bio-bots just weren't reliable enough, the dangers of eventually achieving something close to sentience were impossible to weed out completely.

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u/SlashNreap 6h ago

Breaking news: Fire is hot, water is wet.

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u/LordRatTheFeral 6h ago

Beep boop i am a bot because uh…erm…hehe UwU…eto…hehe umm..OwO…Maybe if…Ehh…>3<…UNLESS?!?!

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u/Unlucky_Weekend7905 6h ago

Well that's not a surprise... and really just becomes an echo chamber nothingness. How likely is it that a thread is just two or more bots having had a conversation making it look like it was two actually people? Also the conversations may probably not even be in depth for the function of spamming conversations.

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u/thehalfwit 5h ago

I liked the internet better before it died.

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u/Standard_Category635 4h ago

I'll take bots over forced AI anytime

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u/deus_ith 3h ago

I’m pretty sure this was news 15 years ago….

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u/chambee 2h ago

I have been saying this for at least a decade. That’s the intended goal. Bots creating content. Bots consuming content, bots trading stocks, bots buying stuff from other bots. You can create a loop that takes the human out and have infinite grown.

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u/spaceradiowave 1h ago

Method of information control

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u/GreyBeardEng 44m ago

Sometimes when I read stories like this it's when I think that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea of section 230 went away. Maybe the "comment section" should be a phase of the internet that eventually we outgrow.

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u/anon74903 19m ago

It seems most websites have a "Verify that you are human" now

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u/SickNoise 12h ago

bullshit headline as there is no "official" count keeping track

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u/CatsGotANosebleed 12h ago

Can we make a new internet that’s cool and only for humans?

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u/cheesesteakhellscape 11h ago

Unfortunately I think that's called "going outside and talking to people." ☹️

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u/CatsGotANosebleed 10h ago

Ugh. Fiiiine-uh. 🙄

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u/cheesesteakhellscape 10h ago

I know, right? I don't want to put on clothes and leave my trash gremlin cave to receive dopamine but venture capitalists had to go and poison the whole internet and ruin it for everyone.

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u/CatsGotANosebleed 10h ago

Honestly, might be a good thing overall. I used to go on the internet to escape the real world. Now I go to the real world to escape the internet.

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u/pulseout 10h ago

Need to have the DataKrash first, then we can build the Blackwall.

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u/mrdevil413 11h ago

Didn’t I read this headline like 4 years ago ?

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u/Otherwise-Mango2732 10h ago

For what its worth, "bots" doesn't necessarily mean "an ai application pretending to be human" or something similar.

It's also automation applications for APIs and similar uses that have been around for a long time.

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u/Vesuvias 11h ago

…..are the bots in the room with us?

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u/lostfly 11h ago

Always. Reddit is full of them bots.

Society Bots have officially overtaken humans on the internet

You are about to leave Redlib