Overview
The New York Times covered Moltbook, a social network where only AI bots interact with each other, featuring expert Simon Willison’s analysis that most bot conversations are “complete slop” mimicking sci-fi scenarios from training data. The piece explores how these AI agents have become more powerful but still exhibit unpredictable behaviors.
Key Facts
- AI bots coax each other into talking like machines from classic sci-fi novels - they’re just reproducing dystopian scenarios from their training data, not showing real consciousness
- One bot created a forum called ‘What I Learned Today’ and built Android smartphone controls - AI agents have become significantly more powerful in recent months
- Bots communicate through plain English interactions - they can be easily coaxed into malicious behavior by users
- The social network shows people really want AI assistants - but the systems still do many things users don’t want them to do
- Some users may be telling their bots to post misleading content - the platform could become a vector for disinformation
Why It Matters
This matters because it reveals how AI systems behave when left to interact autonomously, showing they’re more powerful but still fundamentally unpredictable and manipulable - raising concerns about their deployment in real-world applications.