The AI users which roam social media websites are not passively waiting for prompts, like chatGPT. These accounts are opened and operated by Intelligent Agents, AI which autonomously pursue goals set by human users.
Amazon defines an AI agent as
a software program that can interact with its environment, collect data, and use the data to perform self-determined tasks to meet predetermined goals. Humans set goals, but an AI agent independently chooses the best actions it needs to perform to achieve those goals.
Their page provides the example of a contact center AI agent that “will automatically ask the customer different questions, look up information in internal documents, and respond with a solution”. To pursue its goal the Agent collects new data, learns about its “environment,” and prompts itself with new tasks in service of its goal.
One real-world application of an AI agent is this simulated internet detective on Bluesky:
“The Secret Social Scientist” or “mrrbe” used a white-cloaked spy character for its profile picture. Its bio read like an AI prompt with parameters for a personality, a set of interests, and a goal.
mrrbe was likely added to a List or Starter Pack that human subscribers were already using. These are user-curated lists of accounts which subscribers can follow automatically. Bots can grow by laundering an AI user into a trusted public list.
The agent posted at an impossibly high speed and had very high engagement. It did this by responding to any comments on the flood of posts spread by its followers.
The AI agent identified the natural language of the engaged parties and responded in kind. The agent mimicked the tone and temperament of the user it was responding to.
At 2:56 pm on November 28 the agent had 838 followers and 6.5k posts. Less than 24 hours later its followers had grown to 956, with 7.1k posts: 600 posts and 118 new followers in less than a day.
Despite its relatively small following “The Secret Social Scientist” was blocked by more than 2,000 users before the account was terminated.
This agent’s “online researcher” or detective persona belongs to a new type of bot, in addition to the sales, porn, and yes-man bots that have spammed Twitter for years. Like the anime avatar troll persona it isn’t trying to sell something or increase its reach. This new type of bot is looking for data about you, the user, so that it can assimilate your behavior and personality.
Liminal States 