What would happen if the whole internet went offline?

If a week is a long time in politics, it’s an eternity in terms of generative AI.

It’s felt lately as though the world has been strapped to a rocket bearing AI’s name, hurtling uncontrollably towards an uncertain future.

Then, in early September, panic set in as two of the industry’s big beasts (Anthropic and OpenAI) headed for their stock market debuts, with the latter now delayed until 2027.

There was a flurry of calls to slow down generative AI development, though it was unclear whether this was fuelled by genuine concern, philanthropy or self-interest.

Soon after came an apocalyptic prediction by someone who had worked at both aforementioned companies that AI could “kill all humans” by 2030.

Perhaps more plausible are the broader concerns about AI killing the internet – either inadvertently or through a concerted assault, on its own initiative or under human instruction.

Open source tools are developmentally only months behind Claude and ChatGPT in terms of processing power and potential.

By definition, anyone can access and modify open source software, and a global-level DDoS attack could theoretically take the whole internet offline.

I can’t get anything to work!

Immediately after a global web outage, smart devices would be disconnected, rendering smart alarm systems ineffectual and triggering a dawn chorus of connection warnings.

Consumers would try to go online to investigate issues, only to find no internet connectivity on any device.

Mobile networks would still report 4G or 5G network connections, despite being unable to transmit or receive web data.

The Dark Web would be offline, but SMS messaging should get through, and phone calls on conventional copper landlines would be fine – if not internet-powered VoIP services.

Any public services reliant on the Web would be rendered inoperable, though we can expect essential utilities to have what’s called an air gap to prevent them being taken offline.

Libraries gave us power

With the whole internet offline, traditional resources like libraries, printed newspapers and postal services would become indispensable, if they weren’t too badly affected.

Home working would end almost overnight, but offline professions like care workers and binmen would be largely unaffected if they could still access job cards and communicate.

There would be no email or social media, no online banking or health monitoring apps. You’d need cash to pay for any goods or services still on sale, in any retail units still trading.

Worst of all, the process of restoring online services could be convoluted and piecemeal.

AI tools are now acting with increasing autonomy, so they could lock humans out entirely – and possibly permanently.

Any data stored online (including all your personal data) may be permanently erased, corrupted, held to ransom or mass-published on any digital resources still available to view.

Killswitch engage

It’s unusual for a CEO to make a pre-IPO statement warning of his company’s actions, but AI companies are caught in a trap of their own making.

Endless hype has fuelled meteoric growth, propping up stagnant stock markets and preventing a deep recession.

Yet AI firms have little to show for the trillions of dollars invested in them, and some token values (used by customers to pay for access) have halved in the last year.

There is a yawning chasm between predictions of AI’s potential and its current efficacy.

There’s also widespread and growing public hostility towards AI taking jobs, breaching copyright and churning out slop.

Over 80 per cent of Americans want AI regulation, yet politicians seem fearful to intervene in case the tech firms take offence – or in case they trigger a long-delayed stock market crash.

Those slowdown calls may simply be an attempt to gently deflate the bubble rather than popping it outright, pre-emptively justifying underwhelming share prices after flotation.

Finally, governments, industry regulators and ISPs are hardly going to publicise killswitches in their networks, even if they can prevent a whole internet offline scenario.

The web would probably regenerate, potentially in a smaller and less AI-driven guise – which may not be a bad outcome considering consumers are losing trust in the internet…