An Internet Without Humans: The Dead Internet Theory Rises Again

I’ve got two words for you: Shrimp Jesus. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s the infamous AI-generated Facebook image of Shrimp Jesus and other variations floating around the internet. That image first surfaced in March 2024 and appeared to be a meme at first glance. However, Shrimp Jesus was the jumping-off point for Facebook AI art slop. These consist of newly AI-generated memes sweeping the internet, such as the Challah Horse, the 386-year-old granny baking her own birthday cake and the random wooden cars, just to name a few. You might think these are just memes, but these images reignite discussions surrounding an old online conspiracy called the Dead Internet Theory, which began in 2021. As someone who writes about the internet for a living, this was the first time I’d heard of this idea, and researching it led me down a bottomless rabbit hole from which I struggled to emerge. But if you frequently use TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, you might have unwittingly already ... Read full article.