b'The internet is in decay. Do a Google search, and there are so many websites now filled with slapdash content contorted just to rank highly in the algorithm. Facebook, YouTube, X and TikTok all used to feel more fun and surprising. And all these once-great media companies have been folding or shedding staff members, unable to find a business model that works.\\n\\nAnd into this weakened internet came the flood of A.I.-generated junk. There\\u2019s been a surge of spammy news sites filled with A.I.-generated articles. TikTok videos of A.I.-generated voices reading text pulled from Reddit can be churned out in seconds. And self-published A.I.-authored books are polluting Amazon listings.\\n\\nAccording to my guest today, Nilay Patel, this isn\\u2019t just a blip, as the big platforms figure out how to manage this. He believes that A.I. content will break the internet as we know it.\\n\\n\\u201cWhen you increase the supply of stuff onto those platforms to infinity, that system breaks down completely,\\u201d Patel told me \\u201cRecommendation algorithms break down completely. Our ability to discern what is real and what is false breaks down completely. And I think, importantly, the business models of the internet break down completely.\\u201d\\n\\nPatel is one of the sharpest observers of the internet, and the ways technology has shaped and reshaped it. He\\u2019s a co-founder and the editor in chief of The Verge, and the host of the \\u201cDecoder\\u201d podcast. In this conversation, we talk about why platforms seem so unprepared for the storm of A.I. content; whether an internet filled with cursory A.I. content is better or worse than an internet filled with good A.I. content; and if A.I. might be a kind of cleansing fire for the internet that enables something new and better to emerge.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\nHelp us win a Webby Award\\n\\n\\u201cScenes from a dying web\\u201d by Casey Newton\\n\\n\\u201cThe Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction\\u201d by Walter Benjamin\\n\\n\\u201c257 CES gadgets in 3 minutes \\u2014 CES 2015\\u201d by The Verge\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nThe Conquest of Cool by Thomas Frank\\n\\nLiar in a Crowded Theater by Jeff Kosseff\\n\\nSubstance by Peter Hook\\n\\nEverything I Need I Get From You by Kaitlyn Tiffany\\n\\nExtremely Hardcore by Zoe Schiffer\\n\\nBeyond Measure by James Vincent\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThis episode of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d was produced by Claire Gordon. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing from Isaac Jones and Efim Shapiro. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\\u2019s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.'