By Scott Cunningham · May 16, 2026 · 17 min
The Dead Internet Theory Was Early, Not Wrong
In 2022, I argued that bots were already shaping much more of the internet than most people realized. In 2026, the issue is broader. AI crawlers, automated agents, synthetic profiles, scam automation, fake engagement, and algorithmic feeds now influence how we search, interact, trade, trust, and form opinions online.