I'm Not John Connor, But I'm Fighting Robots Now – And You Should Join Me

The bots are already here, and they're attacking us. They're attacking our data, our websites, our businesses, and the worst, they're attacking us humans. If you breathe, chances are you're being attacked by bots right now... all the other humans you know are also being attacked, directly or indirectly.

The Internet:

If you own a website, you probably (used to) like bots a lot. You needed them to crawl your website so it could rank well in search engines like Google and Bing. You welcomed the bots into your business and your life, happy with the promise that "we will bring people to your website."

But things are changing, and quickly. If you own a website, you might be seeing fewer and fewer human visitors. And if your business depends on website traffic to survive, you're in big trouble.

What Is Happening?

Search engines like Google and Bing have amassed all the information they need about you, your business, and your website. Now, they don't need you anymore. People use search engines to ask questions and get direct answers without visiting your website. The result? People get your information from the search engine itself and don't need to visit your website.

Army of Artificial Intelligence Bots, Agents, Assassins:

This situation is getting worse with the advent of Artificial Intelligence bots. These super bots were developed and trained with information collected from all over the internet, including from your website, without paying you a cent. Now, we have many search engines and tools using AI to answer questions, perform tasks, compile information, and more.

People now rely on AI bots instead of visiting websites. Since AI bots own all your information, people no longer need your website. If this continues, websites and the businesses behind them will die. These bots, which used to be our friends, are now assassins.

Big Tech and AI:

Big tech companies creating these super AI tools are getting richer and richer by monetizing the "free" information they collected from the internet. They offer us basic versions of AI bots for free, while they use our interactions with these bots to create even better AI – which they then sell back to us.

The result is a never-ending cycle of super AI bots storing all the information from the internet and preventing people from visiting the internet itself.

The Data Appetite of Bots:

These crawlers and AI bots aren't human; they don't need real food to survive, but they need data to learn and grow. Search engines and tech companies deploy armies of hungry bots to every server online to consume all the information they can – for free.

They slow down website servers with multiple requests made from several bots at the same time from different sources. Websites become slower, providing worse service and losing human visitors who can't wait for slow pages to load. Website owners now face the need to invest in more resources to cater to the bots' infinite demand for data.

More Visits Are Good, Right?

Yes, but only human visits. Bots won't buy your products or services. They don't care about humans, our websites, or our income; they only need our data to grow faster.

You can try to fight them back by including rules in your Robots.txt file or blocking their IPs, but the bots and the companies behind them often ignore these rules, change IP addresses, and continue their work.

Emails to bot owners to complain may be answered by AI support agents or go directly to spam, and nothing will change.

The Growing Problem:

All the big tech companies want a piece of the action. A lot of money is there to be made from internet information to feed AI technologies without paying a cent to website owners. The future for internet websites? More visits from bots than from humans, leading to the death of websites and the businesses they support.

"I'm Not a Website Owner, I Do Not Visit Websites and I Don't Need Them!"

If you only use social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc., you're not safe either. Bots, disguised as "algorithms," manipulate all the social media apps and the information you consume. These super bots aim to keep you using the app as long as possible, collecting and analyzing everything you do (and the things you don't do) to manipulate you further.

These apps are real-time labs, and you are the test subject. They change colors, fonts, make suggestions, infect you with "viral" videos, and test different methods to see what works best for each user, rewiring your brain to make you addicted.

The Influence of Social Media Bots:

Even if you don't use social media apps, people you know do. Friends and family members influenced by these bots will affect you, talking about posts they saw, videos they watched, products they bought, etc. The power of social media apps is immense, influencing you indirectly.

Are We Doomed?

Perhaps we are, and the end is near. Science fiction movies and books often depict such scenarios: killer robots, wars, singularity. Our future is in our hands, but if we wait too long, we may lose control.

What Can We Do?

We can innovate and use new technologies responsibly. The problem isn't technology itself but how we use it. Money is important, but it’s not everything. Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Consent: Website owners must consent to the use of their data to train AI systems.

2. Rules: Bots must obey rules to crawl websites responsibly, without slowing down or collapsing servers.

3. Search vs Block: Search engines should send humans to visit websites, not block them with AI agents that "know" everything.

4. Pay per Use: Companies with crawlers must pay website owners for the data they collect.

5. Real Feeds: Apps and websites must use real feeds, not bot-manipulated ones. Users should have total control over their feeds.

Was This Article Made with the Help of AI?

Yes, it was. Both text and image were created with the help of AI. I don't have the time to create fancy articles about the problems and dangers of bots because I'm fighting them right now, trying to keep my websites up and running for humans to visit.

Using bots to talk about the danger of bots might seem hypocritical, but these AI tools were trained with the information from all my websites (and personal information), and since I didn't receive any compensation, I believe these AI tools are also mine by right. So, I will use them as weapons in this small war of mine against robots. "If you can't beat them, join them," or in this case, use them.

Are You a Human?

Probably not. Only a few real humans might ever read this. But many bots may crawl this article and learn from it. I hope they can use it to teach and inspire (or influence) real humans to take action. It's a long shot.

If you are a real human, share this article, like it, comment on it, join the discussion, and do something to improve the situation.

If you are a website owner fighting bots, join me. Share your concerns and ideas. Other humans may benefit from them.

Author:
Nuno Matos, owner of several websites in different sectors (WeighingReview.com | AutomationInside.com | BikeToday.news | BikeMarket.pt | AutoAds.pt | GameMarket.pt | BikeMarket.online)

Bots Used:
OpenAI ChatGPT Chat Bot and Bing Copilot Image Designer Bot