This might be a hot take but this is how I feel.

I run a number of socials and have some websites. I have been fairly successful in that I was able to earn a living from the comfort of my home, working around 4 hours a day. Since around 2022, I saw everything going down. Revenue, traffic, views, followers, interactions, sales, etc. etc.

I am somewhat of a jack of all trades when it comes to earning online so I was able to shift things around to make up for losses but I still took a sizable hit.

The only thing I can see changing everything this drastically and all at once is AI. I know this is around the time when everyone started using it. Companies started putting it in browsers, on phones, in online stores like Amazon. It was all over social media (and still is) and I saw massive amounts of it all over YouTube. I will be transparent in saying that I hate most of it so maybe my blame is factored by this, I don't know.

I just feel like AI is ruining the internet. Especially for freelancers and those of us that multitask online for a living. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Nah, you’re not crazy. A lot of stuff really did get weird around 2022/2023.

Blogs stopped getting clicks because Google just started giving people the answer. Every niche got flooded with the same recycled AI crap. Amazon reviews, YouTube thumbnails, bios, captions — it all started sounding/looking the same.

And that hurts freelancers because so much of the work used to come from people randomly finding you. That’s way harder now.

I don’t think you did anything wrong. You kept adjusting, but the ground moved under everyone.

The only thing I’d say is people are already tired of the fake polished stuff. A lot of AI content has this dead, corporate vibe to it. So maybe there’s still room for people who sound like actual people.

Still sucks though.

A lot of this is down to Google shifting around. Most people use Google as a default browser. I personally don't. I use Brave's now and find it to be better for most things. I will use Google only for finding local businesses and locations.

Anyways, AI has taken a lot of work from freelancers and has also caused companies to downsize and fired in-person workers. I have seen a lot of people come out of college unable to find work too since the AI boom. It is best to find something you are passionate about and can earn from and rely on yourself.

AI videos and AI pictures for sure are. I think there is a time and place for it but everyone is spamming it on social media, YouTube, etc. and it has just become too much.

I don't even bother looking for new content anymore before of it. They need filters to block this low-quality, sloppy content.

On 6/25/2026 at 9:53 AM, simonsays said:

I don't even bother looking for new content anymore before of it. They need filters to block this low-quality, sloppy content.

I noticed some places attempting to provide blocking options for AI content but it doesn't get all of it. I don't mind it when it is higher quality or if AI is being used as a tool but when the person is relying entirely on AI to do everything, the quality is just awful.

On 7/3/2026 at 12:11 PM, BlueDrag0n said:

I noticed some places attempting to provide blocking options for AI content but it doesn't get all of it. I don't mind it when it is higher quality or if AI is being used as a tool but when the person is relying entirely on AI to do everything, the quality is just awful.

I believe even Google prioritizes non-AI content in their search results. I am going to do an experiment soon to test for this with two of my websites that aren't being used anymore. I want to put one without any AI content and then seed maybe 50% AI content onto the other and see what happens. I will make a thread for it when I do.

On 7/8/2026 at 8:40 AM, simonsays said:

I believe even Google prioritizes non-AI content in their search results.

Really? I would think they would prioritize AI that is coming from their own models if anything. So many people are putting millions if not billions into AI right now.

AI is an amazing tool and I have no issue with it being such. My issue is that a lot of people without a skill set are using it to mass produce content online that is drowning out everything else. I have seen it all over social platforms everything from YouTube to niche forums like this one.

I don't think that AI is ruining the internet, I think people are. And this has been a trend long before AI was.

Think back to before the normalization of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Most every day people just didn't spend that much time online. Not everyone and their mother spend hours a day online and often add no value to social platforms. The enters Vine and later TikTok with short form videos. They have done studies on how it impacts the brain to watch this content and it is not good. It is making people dumber.

I don't want to get all political. It is just something that annoys me. I see people complain about AI so much these days and they don't remember what the internet was like before social media platforms blew up.

On 7/17/2026 at 8:59 AM, TJW1984 said:

Think back to before the normalization of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Do you think that maybe people using social media more and using websites less could have impacted traffic at all? I know for a lot of forums this has been the case but those are a bit different from websites and blogs. I am not entirely sure how AI even works. I am a bit out of the loop with it.

On 7/15/2026 at 8:58 AM, BlueDrag0n said:

Really? I would think they would prioritize AI that is coming from their own models if anything. So many people are putting millions if not billions into AI right now.

I think it is because the AI needs new data still. If it prioritizing old data, it will just keep recycling the same stuff. Think of the built in AI for search engines that pull from sites and give summaries. Those are what need new stuff.

I know the feeling and I have felt that way but knowing it is not going anywhere has allowed me to embrace it a bit more. I think it can be a fantastic thing, especially in the future. The internet goes through periods where it gets worse before it gets better.

On 7/22/2026 at 8:36 AM, simonsays said:

I think it is because the AI needs new data still. If it prioritizing old data, it will just keep recycling the same stuff. Think of the built in AI for search engines that pull from sites and give summaries. Those are what need new stuff.

Oh yeah, and all the search engines have these now it seems. It probably comes down to what kind of content it is then. I am sure AI made using specific models gets priority. Although I noticed on Duck Duck Go, they have a feature that attempts to block AI images now if you choose.

On 7/18/2026 at 11:31 AM, JoanZims said:

Do you think that maybe people using social media more and using websites less could have impacted traffic at all?

Yes, of course. I know a lot of people that used to frequent specific sites, blogs, etc. for community experiences. Now they just use social platforms. Reddit took a lot of traffic from forums and killed many of them. Social media did the same to blogs.

On 8/4/2026 at 10:26 AM, BlueDrag0n said:

Oh yeah, and all the search engines have these now it seems. It probably comes down to what kind of content it is then. I am sure AI made using specific models gets priority. Although I noticed on Duck Duck Go, they have a feature that attempts to block AI images now if you choose.

Google will absolutely push their own AI stuff over anyone elses. Still, they can't push it too much or rely on it too much cause they will get stuck in informational loops.