The "Dead Internet" theory posits that AI will fill social networks with lifeless content. A more accurate model is the "Zombie Internet," where AI-generated content is not just passive slop but actively responds and interacts with users, creating a simultaneously dead and alive experience.

Meta's huge AI capex, despite no hit product yet, is based on proprietary data from its massive platform. Unlike the speculative Metaverse venture, this investment is a direct response to observed exponential growth in user engagement with AI content, even if users publicly claim to dislike it.

Meta has patented an AI to operate a deceased person's social media account based on their historical data. This signals a strategic interest in preserving the network effects and engagement potential of a user's social graph indefinitely, raising profound questions about digital afterlives and perpetual monetization.

AI apps creating interactive digital avatars of deceased loved ones are becoming technologically and economically viable. While framed as preserving a legacy, this "digital immortality" raises profound questions about the grieving process and emotional boundaries, for which society lacks the psychological and ethical frameworks.

Social platforms are declining as places for genuine connection, shifting to AI-generated 'slop' and content from strangers. Their business model remains viable not by improving the user's social experience, but by using AI to become so effective at ad targeting that even mindless engagement is highly monetizable.

The controversial AI-generated Scott Adams podcast highlights a gaping hole in estate planning. The incident suggests an emerging need for a legal instrument akin to a 'Do Not Resuscitate' order, allowing individuals to legally specify whether their likeness can be replicated by AI after their death.

Social media thrives on the psychological reward of posting for human validation. As AI bots become indistinguishable from real users, this feedback loop breaks, undermining the fundamental incentive to post and threatening the entire social media model which is predicated on authentic human receipt.

Accessible tools like Open Claw are making "Dead Internet Theory" a reality by allowing individuals to automate their social media presence. Users deploy bots to generate and comment on content, creating a world where AI agents increasingly interact with each other, degrading the authenticity of online platforms.

AI services that simulate conversations with deceased loved ones, while ethically controversial, will likely achieve product-market fit. They tap into the powerful and universal human fear of loss, creating durable demand from those experiencing grief, much like how people use chatbots for companionship.