Synthetic Minds | AI Slop is Killing the Internet
Synthetic minds is evolving. Short bi-weekly insights to get you thinking. If you enjoy it, please forward. If you need more insights, subscribe to Futurwise and get 25% off for the first three months!
Over 50% of the Internet is Now Written by AI. That Should Make Us Pause
Once, the internet was a promise: a library of wisdom for everyone.
But today? It feels like a landfill.
Clickbait drowns out truth. AI noise buries signal. Content created with public funds is locked away behind six-figure paywalls. If you’re not a Fortune 500 executive or a top university, you’re left guessing while the world accelerates into uncertainty. For most leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals, this wisdom is out of reach.
We’ve reached a tipping point. The internet’s usefulness is on life support.
We already lost years to doomscrolling, chasing dopamine in endless feeds. Now AI has industrialized the problem. It doesn’t get tired. It doesn’t question. It just floods the web with infinite, low-quality AI slop. We have reached a breaking point now that AI generates >50% of the internet's content.
To make matters worse: most models don’t know or care if a source is credible. Thousands of AI “news sites” exist only to push ads or spin narratives. When that slop gets cited in research, and then shows up in glossy consultancy reports (anyone seen the news on Deloitte?), it suddenly looks legitimate. The cycle feeds itself.
The real risk isn’t only an internet clogged with AI clickbait. It’s what happens to us. Critical thinking, the very muscle we need most, is atrophying. When we can’t trust the ground beneath us, we stop asking the hard questions.
That’s one reason I’m building Futurwise, to create space for discernment in an age of noise. A quiet place to think. Because if we don’t get better at filtering, verifying, and questioning, we won’t just lose the internet. We’ll lose our ability to think.
So here’s my question: How are you teaching your teams to think critically when the internet itself is drowning in AI slop?
'Synthetic Minds' continues to reflect the synthetic forces reshaping our world. Quick, curated insights to feed your quest for a better understanding of our evolving synthetic future, powered by Futurwise:
1. AI is a mysterious beast that not even those on the inside seem to understand. Anthropic's CEO Jack Clark expresses concerns over its rapid development and potential risks. (Tom's Guide)
2. Don't let tech hype hold you back! In a world where technology is increasingly shaping our lives, it's time to rethink our strategies and avoid common pitfalls that can hold us back. (Untangled)
3. AI is reading your emotions without consent. As AI continues to slip deeper into daily life, it's learning to read how we feel. But at what cost? (Quartz)
4. The crypto industry is ignoring a real and looming threat to blockchain security: AI and quantum computing. It's time to take action and future-proof our systems. (CoinDesk)
5. AI is changing the world, but what does the future hold? Andre Karpathy, a prominent figure in AI research, shares his insights on the current state and future prospects of AI. (Dwarkesh Patel)
If you are interested in more insights, grab my latest book Now What? How to Ride the Tsunami of Change and learn how to embrace a mindset that can deal with exponential change.
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Thank you.
Mark
