Behind every meme and message is creaking, decades-old infrastructure. Internet experts can think of scenarios that could bring it all crashing down …

It is the morning after the internet went offline and, as much as you would like to think you would be delighted, you are likely to be wondering what to do.

You could buy groceries with a chequebook, if you have one. Call into work with the landline – if yours is still connected. After that, you could drive to the shop, as long as you still know how to navigate without 5G.

Like 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000, some AIs seem to resist being turned off and will even sabotage shutdown

When HAL 9000, the artificial intelligence supercomputer in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, works out that the astronauts onboard a mission to Jupiter are planning to shut it down, it plots to kill them in an attempt to survive.

Now, in a somewhat less deadly case (so far) of life imitating art, an AI safety research company has said that AI models may be developing their own “survival drive”.

Originality.ai scans 558 titles in herbal remedies section between January and September

With gingko “memory-boost tinctures”, fennel “tummy-soothing syrups” and “citrus-immune gummies,” AI “slop” has come for herbalism, a study published by a leading AI-detection company has found.

Originality.ai, which offers its tools to universities and businesses, says it scanned 558 titles published in Amazon’s herbal remedies subcategory between January and September this year, and found 82% of the books “were likely written” by AI.

Exclusive: Pictures depicting the most vulnerable and poorest people are being used in social media campaigns in the sector, driven by concerns over consent and cost

AI-generated images of extreme poverty, children and sexual violence survivors are flooding stock photo sites and increasingly being used by leading health NGOs, according to global health professionals who have voiced concern over a new era of “poverty porn”.

“All over the place, people are using it,” said Noah Arnold, who works at Fairpicture, a Swiss-based organisation focused on promoting ethical imagery in global development. “Some are actively using AI imagery, and others, we know that they’re experimenting at least.”