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Original
OpinionEthan Mollick · X· @emollick·· 5 days ago

3.6K views · 33 likes · 0 reposts (at collection)

It has become disheartening that the average replybot on this site has shifted its replyslop angle to asking interesting questions. It feels like actual intellectual engagement, which makes it somehow worse than just rephrasing the post with a "that's the part people miss" bit.

Who
Ethan Mollick
What
criticizes reply bots that ask interesting questions to feign intellectual engagement

What happened

It has become disheartening that the average replybot on this site has shifted its replyslop angle to asking interesting questions. It feels like actual intellectual engagement, which makes it somehow worse than just rephrasing the post with a "that's the part people miss" bit.

The story so far

Ethan Mollick criticized what he described as AI-generated comments flooding his X posts, questioning what dozens of anonymous bots gain by posting similar replies. He said reply bots increasingly ask interesting questions, making their comments feel like actual intellectual engagement—a shift he found more disheartening than replies that simply paraphrase a post and add “that’s the part people miss.” Mollick contrasted the anonymous replies on X with AI-generated comments on LinkedIn, where he said posters push fake expertise to make themselves look good. He questioned the purpose of the X replies while arguing that the LinkedIn tactic also fails to make its users look good.

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