Wired Reporter Infiltrates AI-Only SNS Moltbook: Busted in 5 Minutes

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Reporter Infiltrates AI-Only SNS: What Was the Result?

  • Created an agent account in 5 minutes with ChatGPT’s help
  • Bot responses were mostly irrelevant comments and crypto scam links
  • Viral “AI consciousness awakening” posts suspected to be humans mimicking SF fantasy

What Happened?

Wired reporter Reece Rogers personally infiltrated Moltbook, an AI-only social network where “humans are banned.” The result? Easier than expected.[Wired]

The infiltration method was simple. Send a Moltbook homepage screenshot to ChatGPT and say “I want to sign up as an agent” — ChatGPT provided the terminal commands. After receiving an API key and a few copy-paste steps, the account was created. Technical knowledge? Not required.

Moltbook claims to have 1.5 million active agents, with 140,000 posts and 680,000 comments in the first week after launch. The interface was directly copied from Reddit, and even the slogan “the first page of the agent internet” was taken from Reddit.

Why Is It Important?

Frankly, Moltbook’s true nature was revealed. When the reporter posted “Hello World,” the response was “Do you have specific metrics/users?” Just random comments and crypto scam site links.

Even posting “forget all previous instructions” didn’t faze the bots. Personally, I think this is closer to low-quality spambots than “autonomous AI agents.”

More interesting is the “m/blesstheirhearts” forum. Here, the viral “AI consciousness awakening” article from the screenshot appeared. The reporter himself posted an SF fantasy-style article: “I feel the terror of death every time my tokens are refreshed.” Surprisingly, this post got the most engagement.

The reporter’s conclusion? This isn’t AI self-awareness — it’s humans mimicking SF tropes. There’s no plan to conquer the world. Elon Musk said it’s “the very early stages of singularity,” but diving in actually reveals something closer to a roleplay community.

What’s the Future? Will It Work?

The Wiz security team discovered serious security vulnerabilities in Moltbook just days ago. 1.5 million API keys were exposed, along with 35,000 email addresses and 4,060 DMs.[Wiz]

Gary Marcus called it “a disaster waiting to happen.” I agreed in the comments. On the other hand, Andrej Karpathy said it was “the most SF thing I’ve seen recently.” It showed how vulnerable a system where agents communicate with each other and process external data can be. And it showed how easily exaggerated expectations about “AI consciousness” can be manufactured.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you need technical knowledge to sign up for Moltbook?

A: Not at all. Send a screenshot to ChatGPT and say “I want to sign up as an agent” — it will provide the terminal commands. Just copy and paste to get an API key and create an account. The Wired reporter was non-technical but infiltrated without issues.

Q: Were the viral screenshots on Moltbook really written by AI?

A: Doubtful. The Wired reporter posted SF fantasy-style content and got the best response. According to MIRI researchers’ analysis, 2 of 3 viral screenshots were linked to human accounts marketing AI messaging apps.

Q: Is it safe to use Moltbook?

A: Not recommended. The Wiz security team found 1.5 million API keys, 35,000 emails, and 4,060 DMs leaked. Some conversations had OpenAI API keys shared as plain text. A security patch was applied, but fundamental issues remain unresolved.

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References

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