Experts Caution That AI Is Flooding the Internet With Fakery, Eroding Trust
Industry leaders warn that social platforms are being overtaken by bots as credibility tools like verification lose meaning.
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At the Bridge Summit in Abu Dhabi, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and communications strategist Maha Abouelenein warned of a collapse in the trust structures of the internet.
Ohanian said that as much as “20% of all the content we see on social media is fake,” much of it driven by bots or AI-generated posts. The shift began “in the three years since the debut of ChatGPT,” describing an ecosystem increasingly flooded with fabricated accounts and synthetic engagement. “There isn’t really a platform that’s immune,” Ohanian said. “It is now trivial to bot content — whether those are fake accounts, or real humans posting AI-generated material.”
The incentives, he argued, are largely commercial. “There’s a real business incentive to populate these spaces, because that data trains the models we later rely on — when we ask ChatGPT where to go on vacation or what bread maker to buy.” The result, he said, is a steady erosion of credibility online. “Even digitally native users are being misled,” Ohanian admitted. “That number doesn’t go down. The trajectory is only going to go up.”
Ohanian predicted that the next phase of social media will need to be rebuilt around verified human identity “without resorting to scanning people’s retinas.” His own answer to the authenticity problem, he said, has been to rely on smaller, trusted group chats of “50 to 100 people, because everyone knows they’re human.”
Abouelenein, Founder and CEO of Digital and Savvy, echoed the theme, saying that credibility itself has become commodified. “Verification on social media is now a paid feature — a product, not something earned,” she said. “A blue checkmark is no longer proof that someone should be believed.”
Abouelenein recalled that she had earned verification years earlier through published work and professional recognition, but that the subscription model had blurred that distinction. “Users should ask themselves: are you paying because you want legitimate access, or because you want to appear as someone you’re not?” she said.
Ohanian warned that the rise of ultra-realistic AI video tools, such as OpenAI’s Sora, will accelerate the crisis of authenticity and force brands to rethink digital advertising. “What happens if you’re a multinational brand buying ads on a platform where half the people aren’t real?” he asked.
Yet both speakers argued that this technological saturation could spark a counter-movement toward the real and the tangible. Ohanian said that as digital experiences grow more immersive and addictive, “the humanity of sport and live performance becomes even more valuable.” He predicted a resurgence of theatre and in-person entertainment, “because there’s a different energy that hits you when humans tell a story.”
Both Ohanian and Abouelenein concluded with a similar warning: in an internet increasingly built by algorithms, the ability to discern — and demand — the human will define the next decade.
