Sam Altman, the boss behind ChatGPT and OpenAI, seems to be having a bit of an awakening. He’s recently started talking more openly about how the internet feels increasingly fake. This comes after he noticed a lot of online chatter that seems artificial, and he’s wondering how this all happened.

Altman’s Take on the Fake Feel of Social Media

Altman shared a tweet after seeing a screenshot of posts on Reddit praising Claude Code, an AI coding assistant from Anthropic, a rival to OpenAI. In his tweet, he expressed skepticism, saying he thought the praise might be artificial or bot-driven. He pointed out that it’s not just spam. People are actually starting to write like the chatbots they interact with all day.

He explained that people are picking up quirks from language models, making online conversations feel less genuine. Altman also blamed the constant hype cycle, social media’s push to boost engagement, and the presence of bots for creating this fake feeling. In his view, platforms like Twitter and Reddit now seem much more artificial than they did a few years ago.

He Recognizes the Irony of His Own Role

What’s interesting is that Altman, who helped create some of this AI-driven chaos, seems surprised by how much the internet feels fake now. It’s a bit like the CEO of a music streaming company complaining about too much music being streamed — he’s part of what’s causing the flood. Despite his tech’s influence, he seems to be only recently noticing how it’s changing online culture.

Just last week, Altman mentioned he’s started to understand the “dead internet theory,” which suggests the web is mostly run by AI and bots. While that’s not true, the idea is that social media is becoming more and more filled with fake interactions, viral nonsense, and replies that don’t really connect to the original content. Many people online realized this years ago, but Altman only now seems to be catching on, after fueling the trend with ChatGPT.

The Bigger Picture: AI’s Role in Making Things Feel Fake

Altman’s commentary highlights a bigger issue. His company’s AI tools are speeding up the creation of fake content online, making it harder to tell what’s real. The internet is becoming a place where genuine interactions are harder to find, and bots fill the void. This raises questions about how AI should be used and what kind of online environment we want to build.

It’s a reminder that the people creating these powerful tools need to think about their impact. If the goal is to make the internet more authentic, then perhaps there’s a need for new rules or safeguards. Otherwise, we risk losing the human touch in our digital lives, replaced by endless streams of AI-generated content.

In the end, Altman’s reflections show that even the pioneers of AI can be surprised by its consequences. As these technologies continue to evolve, so too will our online worlds — for better or worse. How we choose to navigate this new digital reality remains to be seen.

Inspired by

• https://futurism.com/sam-altman-concerned-internet-fake

Sources

• gmpg.org
• washingtonpost.com
• loudersound.com
• vice.com