AI Automation Risks Eroding Internet Value and Authentic Marketing

The alarming rise of AI-driven marketing automation, particularly in areas like automated commenting, threatens to erode the very fabric of online interaction and brand building. This conversation reveals a hidden consequence: the potential for a "dead internet" where human connection is replaced by a cacophony of bots. The core thesis is that while AI can be a powerful tool, its misuse as a shortcut to automate genuine engagement will lead to a sterile, unusable online space. Marketers, founders, and anyone invested in authentic digital communication should read this to understand the profound implications of prioritizing scale over soul, and to gain an advantage by committing to the "Renaissance" path of human-centric craft.

The Specter of the Dead Internet: Automating Engagement to the Point of Extinction

The conversation around AI in marketing has taken a dark turn, moving beyond mere efficiency gains to a potential existential threat to the internet as we know it. The launch of platforms like Astral, which automate commenting at scale across platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit, has ignited a firestorm of criticism. This isn't just about a new tool; it's about a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes marketing, and indeed the internet, valuable. The immediate impulse for many is to dismiss such tools as "automating spam," a sentiment that Kieran Flanagan and Kipp Bodnar strongly echo. They argue that outsourcing conversations to robots creates a feedback loop where bots talk to bots, rendering the online space unusable for humans. This isn't a distant dystopian future; it's a present danger, a direct path toward the "dead internet theory," where AI-generated content and interactions drown out authentic human voices.

"The second you outsource conversations to robots completely, the robots are just going to go back and forth with each other and then it's just going to become unusable to humans, right? Because you're just going to have these competing robots saying what they think."

The reaction to these AI commenting agents is telling. It reveals a deep-seated unease with a marketing approach that prioritizes volume over value. For many outside the marketing profession, seeing automated comments on platforms like LinkedIn evokes a visceral reaction: "Is this really marketing? This is brutal." This perception, the hosts argue, is not entirely misplaced. They contend that this type of automation represents a "mid-marketing tool," focusing on the lowest-value, most easily outsourced tasks, rather than the strategic, human-centric work that defines effective marketing. The very act of commenting, participating in a community, and engaging in dialogue is presented as a deeply human endeavor, integral to brand building and community formation. When a company's brand message centers on "replacing jobs," it signals a fundamental misstep, alienating potential customers and collaborators who seek genuine connection, not just automated output.

The core issue, as articulated by Kieran, is the erosion of the "essence of the web." The internet's original promise was connection, community, and the sharing of ideas. When AI agents create content, distribute it, and then comment on their own content, the human element is entirely removed. This leads to a scenario where platforms become echo chambers of bot-generated noise. While AI can be incredibly useful for research--identifying relevant communities or trending topics--its application in automating conversational aspects is where the danger lies. The distinction between using AI as a research assistant versus an autonomous commenter is critical. The former augments human capability; the latter replaces it, with potentially devastating consequences for brand authenticity and user experience.

"Look, AI content is everywhere right now, and most of it is total garbage. It's low effort, generic, and frankly, obvious. But AI isn't the problem, bad prompts are. We built a system with 20 prompts that keep your content human: ideation, creation, distribution, optimization, the whole thing. Get it right now. Click the link in the description. Now let's get back to the show."

The demonstration of Astral's capabilities, particularly the idea of AI "copywriters" who "know what lands, what converts," is met with strong skepticism. The hosts emphasize that community engagement on platforms like Reddit and LinkedIn is not about conversion in a transactional sense, but about genuine participation and relationship building. Attempting to "convert" in these spaces, especially through automated comments, can lead to being "blackballed." The value of marketing, they argue, lies in building a tribe, understanding an audience deeply, and doing something remarkable. Outsourcing these fundamental aspects to AI, rather than using it as a co-writer or editor to enhance human craft, is seen as a critical error. This leads to a concerning future where the internet is populated by bots talking to bots, devoid of the personality, imperfections, and genuine connection that make online experiences valuable. The example of Stack Overflow, once a vibrant community for developers, being rendered less useful by ChatGPT's ingestion of its content, serves as a stark warning of how AI can inadvertently kill the very sources it learns from, leaving a void where valuable human interaction once thrived.

The Renaissance vs. The Industrial Revolution: Choosing Craft Over Automation

The divergence in how AI can be applied to marketing presents a critical choice: embrace it as a tool for a "Renaissance" of human craft, or succumb to an "Industrial Revolution" of automated mediocrity. The hosts draw a clear line between these two paths. The Renaissance approach, exemplified by creatives like PJ, uses AI to augment human capabilities, enabling them to produce more valuable content faster and more efficiently. This involves using AI for video production, for instance, to tell compelling stories without the prohibitive costs and time of traditional shoots. This is AI as an enabler of craft, allowing marketers to be more autonomous, to create more things of value, and to focus on what truly matters: building relationships and crafting remarkable experiences.

"I want AI, and the way I talk about it and you talk about it and we talk about it online, is to be a renaissance for marketers, to be craftspeople. Explain that, explain what that means so that people really understand what that means."

In contrast, the "Industrial Revolution" approach, as seen in automated commenting tools, seeks to automate away the thinking and the craft itself. This path prioritizes short-term gains--scale, volume, perceived efficiency--at the expense of long-term value and authenticity. It's the path of factories churning out identical products, devoid of personality or unique value. This is the business model of spammers, and it's a direction that fundamentally misunderstands the enduring power of marketing. Building a real, long-lasting brand requires showing up, participating authentically, having personality, and crafting things that people are genuinely interested in. Automated comments and bot-to-bot conversations cannot convey belief, partnership, or the sense of being part of something bigger than oneself--elements crucial for building customer loyalty and brand equity.

The hosts express a genuine concern that if the "Industrial Revolution" path prevails, the internet itself will cease to exist in any valuable way for humans. When agents create content, distribute it, and then comment on it, the human element opts out because the experience becomes garbage. This echoes the sentiment seen on platforms like Instagram, where users disengage due to a perceived decline in content quality. True craft, they emphasize, often involves imperfections that AI cannot replicate or understand. Celebrating these imperfections and bringing them to life is what makes content engaging and valuable. The choice is stark: marketers can either become craftspeople empowered by AI, leading to a renaissance of creativity and connection, or they can become operators of automated systems, contributing to the decline of authentic online interaction and the eventual death of valuable digital spaces. The commitment to the "Renaissance path" is presented not just as a marketing strategy, but as a commitment to preserving the very essence of what makes the internet and marketing meaningful.

Key Action Items

• Immediate Action (This Week):
  • Audit current marketing activities to identify any tasks that rely on automated, impersonal engagement (e.g., generic comment posting).
  • Re-evaluate AI tools: Prioritize those that assist in research, ideation, or content drafting, rather than autonomous posting or commenting.
  • Engage directly with one community platform (e.g., Reddit, LinkedIn group) for 30 minutes, focusing on genuine interaction and answering questions.
• Short-Term Investment (Next Quarter):
  • Develop a content strategy that emphasizes human personality and unique brand voice, using AI as a co-writer or editor, not a replacement.
  • Invest time in understanding audience communities deeply, identifying where authentic participation can build brand loyalty.
  • Train marketing teams on leveraging AI for research and content enhancement, focusing on the "Renaissance" model of craft augmentation.
• Longer-Term Investment (6-18 Months):
  • Build and nurture brand communities through consistent, authentic human interaction, making this a core part of the marketing strategy.
  • Measure success not just by engagement volume, but by the quality of interactions and the strength of brand relationships.
  • Explore AI tools that automate mundane administrative tasks, freeing up human marketers to focus on high-value, craft-oriented activities and community engagement.