Is AI Speeding Up the Death of the Internet? A Look the Erosion of the Open Web

The internet, once a vast open landscape of information, is undergoing a significant and rapid transformation. After the resent rise of artificial intelligence and its subsequential integration into online platforms is, undeniably, changing how we access and interact with information.

While AI offers undeniable benefits, who doesn’t like the new levels of personalization and sheer convenience, some might argue that it is accelerating the demise of the open internet as we once knew it.

AI algorithms hold the promise of a more personalized and efficient web as they are frighteningly adept at learning the user’s preferences and tailoring the online experiences accordingly.

This can be adopted anywhere, from social media feeds that are curated to your interests to search results that prioritize content you’re likely to engage with. AI offers a level of personalization never before seen.

This can be a boon for users, imagine wading through a sea of irrelevant information versus encountering content that directly resonates with your interests. Additionally, AI can streamline tasks and improve efficiency, and since we humans tends to be bad at it, some help is always needed and appreciated.

However, the very features that make AI-powered personalization so appealing can also have detrimental effects. There are perils and consequences to consider.

We have, for some time, been talking and being conscious about filter bubbles and echo chambers and it comes as no surprise that they to, like the rest of the web, get supercharged by the thinking machines.

By prioritizing content that aligns with existing preferences, AI algorithms can and will create filter bubbles the likes we have never seen before. Users are primarily exposed to information that confirms their existing beliefs just like before, but now it’s more bespoke.

This will further hinder exposure to more general and diverse viewpoints as well as fostering new a new level of intellectual stagnation. This creates echo chambers where users are constantly bombarded with opinions they already agree with, hindering constructive conversations and critical thinking. And since they are bespoke and personalized, they might even drive us further apart than ever before, into tiny pocket dimensions of our own design. The ultimate echo chamber.

Couple this trend with the rapid erosion of the open web, we get doomsday scenario of epic proportions.

This trend is far from new, but like everything else in these modern days, it is augmented and hastened by our new algorithms.

The webs open nature has always been it boon and bane. It is a vast ocean of information where everything exists everywhere and all at once. But since it is too vast no one was ever able to find anything before the advent of the search engine. This brought us order to the chaos and for a while everything good. The algorithms, search in this case, helped us to find what we wanted and when we wanted it.

Now adays things are different. Today’s search is not what it once was, and the algorithms actively obscure the broader landscape of information available online. This hinders the serendipitous discovery of new ideas and perspectives that were once hallmarks of the open internet. No longer will you stumble upon new information or websites, instead you will get served what was deemed prudent and what would most likely get you to engage.

The world’s biggest search engine is now mainly AI generated summarize and paid content, as well as advents and shopping suggestions. To be able to navigate to the first true result you have to venture as far as six results pages down to get away from what the algorithm thinks should garner your attention.

Even if we often think so, algorithms are not infallible. They are trained on vast datasets that may contain inherent biases. And since they are often trained on data from the internet, you know this will be the case more or less every time. These biases can then be reflected in the results users encounter, perpetuating existing inequalities and hindering access to accurate and diverse information.

And since AI is now firmly in the driving seat new content is often produced by AI, that is then used to train AI, that generates new content for us to read and consume and a new generation of AI to be rained on. It is a vicious cycle that might just get out of hand quite quickly.

So, is AI speeding up the death of the internet? The answer isn’t a simple yes or no.

AI is a powerful tool, the fossil foil of these modern days, with both huge benefits and drawbacks. The key lies in using this technology responsibly and ensuring it serves to enhance, not restrict, the open internet as envisioned by its creators, like the legendary Tim Berners-Lee.

So how do we combat this death spiral?

Well firstly by creating more content, human content, that is as diverse and flawed as us. And beyond that, by supporting quality journalism, that might be augmented by AI but that remains a human endeavor at its core.

In an era of fake news, supporting independent, fact-based journalism is more crucial than ever. We should all consider paying for ad-free subscriptions or donating to investigative journalism outlets to keep the net and our consciences clean.

I don’t have a problem with synthetic content, quite the opposite. But to balance it all we need to breed life into it and make it human again, make it less perfect as well as give it some often needed energy and drama.

If we adopt a human-centered approach and once more take to the digital streets and not only consuming but also creating content, we might just turn this ship around.

The future of the internet lies in striking a balance, leveraging the power of AI while safeguarding the core principles of an open and accessible information landscape. This requires a conscious effort from all stakeholders, users, platforms and policymakers to ensure the internet remains a platform for diverse voices, critical thinking, and the free exchange of ideas. As well as cat videos, both real and synthetic.