Sam Altman admits the internet already feels run by AI

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently took to X with an interesting observation. According to him, discussions in online communities are starting to feel increasingly artificial, leaving him struggling to discern which are coming from real people or being generated by AI.

On September 8, Sam Altman revealed in an X post that he had experienced the “strangest experience” while reading about the growth of OpenAI’s Codex model, which led him instinctively to assume the comments were all from fake accounts or bots.

i have had the strangest experience reading this: i assume its all fake/bots, even though in this case i know codex growth is really strong and the trend here is real.

i think there are a bunch of things going on: real people have picked up quirks of LLM-speak, the Extremely… https://t.co/9buqM3ZpKe

— Sam Altman (@sama) September 8, 2025

Altman’s observation came after a ‘strange experience’

“I have had the strangest experience reading this,” he began. “I assume it’s all fake/bots, even though in this case I know codex growth is really strong and the trend here is real.” The OpenAI CEO seemed to be implying he could not decide if the comments were real or from bots.

“I think there are a bunch of things going on,” he continued, attempting to diagnose the cause. He attributed it to factors like how real people have picked up quirks of “LLM-speak,” optimization pressure from social media platforms now rewarding engagement, and companies using “astroturfing” tactics.

In conclusion, he surmised that the net effect of all this is that “somehow AI twitter/AI reddit feels very fake in a way it really didn’t a year or two ago.”

The reaction to the post was mixed, with some from people with an axe to grind with Altman and his company.

One comment that stood out came from a user who identified as the founding mod of the r/claudecode subreddit.

“I think some context helps,” they wrote. “While the comments in that screenshot may look bot-like, none of those accounts trigger removal or spam filters. Most have been around for 5+ years, active across hundreds of subs, and don’t follow fake-account patterns. If they were paid, there’s no way for us to reliably verify.”

According to the user, “what has shifted is the tone of the sub since GPT-5. A lot of people moving in are preferring Codex CLI over Claude code, and naturally, a vocal group pushes back. Niche communities always amplify those swings. I’d say good job there, OpenAI.”

Altman complained about bots running X accounts

Altman’s recent comment comes days after he admitted that he never took the dead internet theory seriously, until now, when it seems “like there are really a lot of LLM-run Twitter accounts now.”

Sam Altman is open to the conspiracy theory that LLM accounts now run social media. Source: @sama via X (Formerly Twitter)

The Dead Internet Theory is a conspiracy theory that claims the internet is no longer being controlled by real people, but mostly by bots and AI-generated content. The idea postulates that most online activity, including comments, posts, and articles, is not genuine and is all created to manipulate public opinion and control users.

According to a review of the theory published in multiple sources, including New York Magazine, it has two key strands: Displacement of human activity in which bots and algorithmic curation dominate what users encounter, and coordinated control, where governments and corporations may be intentionally curating content, limiting genuine interaction, and amplifying artificial voices.

For now, there is no evidence of a vast state-run conspiracy, but the considerable rise of bot traffic and “link rot” continues to fuel the debate.

Altman’s comment ignited fresh debate on the topic, with many confirming his suspicions by confessing they had also encountered suspiciously repetitive or AI-generated replies. Others questioned the irony of the statement since his company, OpenAI, may have played the most significant role in mainstreaming AI and chatbots.

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