TechScape: On the internet, where does the line between person end and bot begin?

I know I'm real. And you, dear reader, know you're real. But do you ever suspect that everyone else on the internet is acting strange? That the spaces you used to frequent feel a bit ... dead? You aren't alone. "Dead internet theory" first hit the web almost three years ago, propelled to the mainstream by an essay in the Atlantic by Kaitlyn Tiffany: Dead-internet theory suggests that the internet has been almost entirely taken over by artificial intelligence. Like lots of other online conspiracy theories, the audience for this one is growing because of discussion led by a mix…