Open Thread - 09-04-26 - AI Generated Reality
Myriad are the ways that herd our minds into pens of conformity.
From the ancient act of reading entrails, to modern subliminal perception, the design is our minds.
From the Shaman to Bernays, the goal is the same, only the tactics have changed.
The internet is a tool. Like all tools they can be used or misused, depending on the operator. The same can be said of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Combining the two in the hands of a system that is set to manipulate can be an insidious amalgamation of deception.
The latest iteration of this ageless practice of menticide is narrative control, in conjunction with AI.
It can be seen in AI written articles and AI bot controlled comment boards across the web. The bots have become so sophisticated that it's difficult to distinguish whether the writer or commenter is human or binary code.
And they are ubiquitous.
Wrongspeak is swarmed by bots, fake articles, fake comments, product reviews are manipulated, comments are hijacked, you're pushed or prodded into a bot mob of a preordained train of thought, fake images, fake videos, history rewritten. I could go on and on, but by now, you get the picture.
AI and AI bots are creating an alternative reality.
Even AI agents don't try hide it. Let's go to the source and ask the horse.
I asked Google Gemini about "AI created narratives" and this was the surprisingly forthright result:
AI Overview
AI is used on the internet to create narratives by automatically generating text, images, and videos that shape public opinion, market products, or spread false stories at a massive scale.
Generating Text and Articles
- Writing fake blogs: AI tools write hundreds of articles a day to push a specific political view or promote a product.
- Social media posts: Programs create realistic comments and posts on platforms like X or Facebook to make an idea look popular.
- Automated news: AI spins existing news stories with a specific bias to change how readers feel about an event.
Using Bot Networks
- Amplifying messages: Computer programs called bots share the same narrative thousands of times.
- Trending topics: Bots use hashtags to trick internet algorithms into putting a narrative on the main trending page.
- Fake profiles: AI generates profile pictures and personal histories for fake users who argue for a specific point of view.
Making Fake Videos and Images
- Deepfakes: AI creates hyper-realistic fake videos of real people saying or doing things they never did.
- Visual propaganda: Systems generate false images of news events to make people believe a story is real.
Targeting Specific Audiences
- Micro-targeting: Algorithms study user data to figure out what people fear or care about.
- Custom stories: AI tailors a specific narrative to fit the exact beliefs of a small group, making it very persuasive.
I mean, WTF, man?
After giving this much thought I've come to the conclusion this admission of AI created narratives is by design, the hands behind it don't want us believing our lying eyes.
The goal is a society of programmed automatons.
I then asked Gemini, "How many AI bots are there on the internet"?
AI Overview
There is no exact total count of AI bots on the internet, but automated programs and AI agents now generate more than half of all global web traffic.
Bot vs. Human Traffic
- 53% to 57% of all web traffic comes from automated bots.
- 43% to 47% of web traffic comes from humans.
- Automated traffic has outpaced human activity for multiple consecutive years.
Types of Bots Online
- Good Bots (13%): Helpful tools like search engine crawlers, monitoring services, and benign AI scrapers.
- Bad Bots (40%): Malicious scripts used for data scraping, credential stuffing, and ad fraud.
- AI Agents: A growing share of traffic comes from agentic AI systems visiting web pages to gather data and execute tasks at machine speed.
As reported by CNET, the internet is no longer mostly human, with automated requests scaling rapidly due to cheap deployment and the rise of AI automation.
You see what I mean?
3:14
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
Hello, is anybody real out there?
The web's bot-versus-bot future
Good morning...
So half the web is AI BS? Most of the rest is natural intelligence BS, I guess.
The Duran describes the power of US influence on the SCO/BRICS+
(25 min) Modi, Erdogan and Tokayev Gang Up on Putin
At the SCO summit in Bishkek, Russia faced an unexpected wave of pressure as Modi, Erdogan and Tokayev all pushed Putin toward a ceasefire with Ukraine, while Xi Jinping and China quietly stood firmly behind Moscow. In this episode we break down why this moment exposed real cracks inside BRICS and what it means for Russia, India, Turkey and Kazakhstan as the war in Ukraine heads toward its next phase. Was this a diplomatic win for Putin or a warning sign for Russia's alliances.
The Duran: Episode 2615
00:00:00 SCO summit overview, Eurasian leaders pressure Russia
00:01:13 Modi publicly calls on Putin for peace with Ukraine
00:03:23 Xi stays silent as Putin defends Russia at press conference
00:05:35 Is this genuine concern or US pressure on Modi, Tokayev and Lula
00:07:26 BRICS officials fear of American sanctions
00:10:24 China and Russia axis solidifies
00:13:39 Russia's leverage over India and Kazakhstan
00:17:36 Putin's past restraint and Bishkek as a wake up call
00:21:00 Nervousness for Turkey, Kazakhstan and Georgia as Russia grows stronger
00:23:55 India's view on a Russian victory and closing thoughts
Like the EU, we won't stop provoking war...it is our business driven by both AI and natural ignorance.
The data centers have become an issue in the AL governors race. Will the people have a voice? I doubt it.
Data centers and the Alabama governor's race
(2 min)
Thanks for the OT and the tip yesterday about the new Dune movies!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning LO...
Yeah, the internet as a vehicle of free expression is on its last legs. It's dead, Jim.
Is anyone pushing Zelensky towards a cease fire? Maybe they should start there.
You're welcome about the Dune movies, I'm a big fan of both of the books and movies. Can't wait for the new one in a few months.
I claim to be
an actual, flesh-and-blood human. At least this week...
AI will very likely end us. Between hastening financial collapse, making wholesale warfare much more likely, and depletion/destruction of the natural resources required to Feed The Beast, our so-called betters have violated the first rule of technical Magick:
All thanks to H.P. Lovecraft for that timeless bit of wisdom. And now, we wait.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Is anything real anymore...
if we don't already live in a software program it sure seems like we're headed that way.
The future seems incomprehensible and in light of the present, the past seems surreal.
"And now we wait". Yup.
Call me old school
But do not get the ai attraction. If one can not formulate a coherent thought,
Perhaps it is better to just listen and learn?
Thanks for the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Yeah...
count me in as old school too. It all seems like some kind of trap, although I think it's best to keep on top of what the SOBs are up to.
Good mornng JtC, thanks for the OT and the essay.
Our "home phone" is a super cheap cellphone using the legacy phone number of our old landline. Old as in 30+ years of continuous use. Roughly 98% (est) of the calls on that phone are spam. Roughly 70-75% of those are bots. The balance, script reading jerk-offs, are little better and very little different, people who have devolved into bots, at least while on the job. "We are DEVO" is real.
Now, for a change of topic - Private Equity business go boom?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/04/private-equity-boom-hosp...
Given the likely negative impact on peoples jobs and livelihoods, and the decrease in non-monopoly goods and services, it is hard to say that this is/would be a good thing, nonetheless, the disappearance of many of these parasites would be good, and the death of the industry/business model would be better yet.
AS to the SCO events relating to Ukiestan, the pressure is all on the wrong participant. As with Iran, the Rus are open to meaningful peace negotiations, real ones, that take as a starting place both history and the current state of affairs. Both Iran and the Rus have made their goals, conditions and demands clear to all. All that their opponents need to do is agree to the fundamentals and begin honestly discussing details such as timing, phase-ins, and the like. This should not be news to anybody here. There are simply far too many piss-poor imitators of Pantalone in the "west" to allow any real progress unless Arlecchino (harlequin) continues to take a stick to them a bit more.
Be well and have a good one
edit, fixed some typos
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Many of those spam calls...
are probes to see if your number is active. If you pick up there'll be a few seconds of delay before a bot answers. After they verify that your number is active you'll get a deluge of new spam calls.
Even though I don't like to answer calls that I don't recognize, I have to answer because I get so many different calls from doctors and hospitals. My cell phone is pretty good at alarming me that an incoming call is spam, but some still get through. It's maddening.
Private equity groups have been a scourge on this country for a long time, their motus operandi is to buy businesses and milk as much as they can by cutting corners, laying people off, etc, then they file for bankruptcy and move on to the next victim. They are parasitic vulture capitalists, and just one of the many factors that have the potential to collapse this house of cards we call an financial system.
I'm in complete agreement with you about the wars.
Bankruptcy is generally a last resort, they prefer to sell the
corpse for assumption of the remaining debt and a little cash or other serious consideration. This is why you sometimes see a once well known brand selling shit it never used to produce on late night tv, you know you know the name, but it's not the right product, like maybe Bell & Howell pushing salad spinners.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
A meme:
"I'm just trying to have a good time despite knowing facts and information."
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
So true...
we've been practicing that for a long time, haven't we?
Bon ton roulet!
Wait, what? "For a good time ..."
be well and have a good time.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
It typically
involves music, Tex-Mex food, joking, and silly shit.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Had an experience just yesterday
while ordering some supplies for my CPAP device.
I've been calling the same number for years and speaking with a real human, in this case, a very pleasant and helpful woman who always seemed eager to get my order right.
Yesterday I got a man who called himself Evan, and right away his voice seemed a little off. I asked if "he" was a bot and the response was no. I then asked if "he" was a real person and he affirmed that "he" was a real human.
The peculiar pronunciations and slight lag between some words triggered my suspicions further.
So, I asked him "What color light signifies go? "He" balked and went out on a distracting affirmation "he" was real. I asked again. Finally, he said green.
So, I posed another question, "What year did America gain it's independence?"
"He" pronounced it as "One-seven-seven-six", instead of seventeen-seventy-six.
I had noticed this queer tic watching some ytube videos over the last few weeks. Whenever the presenter would describe a number that a normal human would pronounce as four-twenty-six, as in describing a V-8 engine, the narrator would pronounce it as four-two-six.
I was convinced I was dealing with a bot.
I was a little angry that I was being lied to, blatantly. But I continued with the order anyway out of curiosity.
When asked to confirm the shipping address, I just gave the number and street and paused. After a few moments "it" finished with "Vancouver, Washington?" I affirmed.
Then "it" asked if I had an email address so "it" could send me prompts when the next eligibility window opens to re-order supplies. I said no, sensing an attempt to go completely digital written word to hide "it's" flawed speech patterns.
Then a query to go to text messaging only to my phone. I gave the same answer, no.
Another queer anomaly, the phone number I usually call to get a real person has disappeared from my phone contact list and has been replaced with the corporate re-order number. I ran a search of my contact list and came up with 8 previous calls to the local Norco distributor with a local number. The latest one being March of this year and going back to 2023.
There is some serious manipulation going on here.
We cannot trust anything now.
Not even me telling you "I am not a bot" can really be trusted.
They will probably figure out a way to fix the speech glitch, eventually. So we will have to constantly search for ways to determine what we are conversing with, real or Memorex, so to speak (I sometimes crack myself up).
In fact, this may become a method to "smell out" a Zircon (fake), the heavy use of puns.
Great subject matter for a OT.
We need to talk about this, just among us humans though.
Thanks.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Pertinent...
anecdotal evidence, and very likely to get much worse.
There needs to be laws that warn us when we're interacting with an AI agent or bot. Yeah, I know, not holding my breath.
Thanks, brother.