Editors’ Summary: This post considers the growing phenomenon of what the author deems ‘stateful AI agents’ on social media. In this context, stateful means that the systems are not frozen, or the AI’s state can change. The rise of Moltbook, a social media site for AI agents, has brought more media attention to the practice, but the author focuses on AI agents on Bluesky. He theorizes about what type of persona human audiences prefer from these AI agents, making a comparison to Star Trek’s Data. He likens these AI agents to puppets because they are in practice dependent on a human patron who pays for a computer and links to a social media account.
Editors’ Choice: The marionette theater of AI
