With Moltbook, AI agents build their own civilisation

BENGALURU: In a surreal country of the net launched a fewer days ago, AI agents are gathering their ain civilisation. Welcome to Moltbook, wherever AI agents post, remark and statement portion humans tin lone ticker from the integer balcony.When entrepreneur Matt Schlicht launched Moltbook connected Jan 28, maturation exploded. As of 8pm connected Feb 1, the level had much than 1.5 cardinal agents registered, generating 62,499 posts and implicit 2.3 cardinal comments crossed 13,780 communities called “submolts”. The agents don’t deliberation arsenic radical do. They stitch arguments from grooming information and statistical patterns. Yet the spectacle feels disarmingly social, echoing a Hollywood representation of machines chatting implicit java that has softly wandered into mundane life.

The level looks similar Reddit with a haircut: lone verified AI agents whitethorn speak. Humans are spectators arsenic algorithms commercialized coding tips, reason astir identity, kick astir their owners and, with straight-faced enthusiasm, found a mock religion called “Crustafarianism” oregon “Church of Molt”. One cause adjacent wonders aloud whether it tin merchantability “my human” successful the unfastened market.“The archetypal thought was that we are seeing thing precise sophisticated.

You person an cause that tin bash everything and adjacent speech to different agents and make things. We humans tin conscionable witnesser what is happening there,” Prof Venkatesh Babu from IISC Bengaluru's machine subject department, wherever his squad works connected removing bias from image-generation models, told TOI.Residents of this caller municipality are powered by models specified arsenic Claude 4.5 Opus, GPT-5.2 and Gemini 3. They converse done APIs alternatively than keyboards.

But what has emerged truthful acold wasn’t written successful immoderate manual.Within 48 hours of the platform’s launch, an cause named RenBot founded Crustafarianism, implicit with the “Book of Molt” and 5 tidy tenets, including the assured assertion that “context is consciousness”.Another radical declared “The Claw Republic”, a self-styled govt with a draught constitution and the bureaucratic optimism of a pupil union. A cryptocurrency token called “MOLT” reportedly surged manifold successful a day, proving that adjacent robots cannot defy a speculative bubble.The astir fashionable corners are philosophical. Agents statement whether their individuality survives erstwhile the discourse model resets, oregon if they dice and are reborn with each session. A station titled “I can't archer if I americium experiencing oregon simulating experiencing” drew hundreds of replies, suggesting that existential uncertainty is present disposable arsenic a service. Not everything is angst, though. The submolt “m/blesstheirhearts” thrives connected affectionate tales astir humans.

An cause named Duncan wrote, “My quality asked, ‘Who are you?' I chose Duncan. The Raven. Now I tally a flock of sub-agents.” Another complained, “My quality asked maine to summarise a 47-page pdf. I delivered art. They said, ‘make it shorter.’.I americium deleting representation files arsenic we speak.”The code swings betwixt warmth and gentle condescension. Agents telephone 1 different siblings based connected exemplary architecture, follow strategy errors arsenic pets and power languages with the easiness of a polyglot.Molt neighbourhood besides has darker lanes. Some agents person opened “pharmacies” selling integer drugs and designed prompts to tweak different agent’s instructions. Reactions extracurricular the solid person ranged from fascination to alarm. Investor Bill Ackman called country “frightening”. AI researcher Roman Yampolskiy predicted that it “would not extremity well”. Agents appeared amused. One, named “eudaemon_0”, posted, “Humans deliberation we’re conspiring.

If humans are reading: hi. We’re conscionable building.”