Loading video...

Video Failed to Load

There was a problem loading this video. This could be due to a temporary network issue or the video might be unavailable.

On a Reddit dupe called Moltbook, AI agents post much like we would, chatting about everything from religion to crypto and even about "their humans." But why? And is the AI doing this all on its own? In the latest installment of AI, Explained by Humans — our new... show more

TIME

18,539,108 subscribers

30,973 views • 8 months ago •via X (Twitter)

News & Politics Education Science & Technology

Anya Rossi• Live Now

Private livecam show

0 Comments

No comments available

Comments from the original post will appear here

Related Videos

Welcome to AI, Explained by Humans, where we break down new developments in AI and how they'll affect your daily life. Research from leading AI labs suggests that AI systems are capable of lying, scheming, and surprising their creators. Whether or not AI can be conscious, it is clearly doing something markedly more sophisticated than previous generations of digital technology. Today, reporter Tharin Pillay breaks down the discussions happening between researchers, innovators, and even philosophers to figure out if AI has a mind, what it can do with that mind, and what that means for how we interact with it.

Welcome to AI, Explained by Humans, where we break down new developments in AI and how they'll affect your daily life. Research from leading AI labs suggests that AI systems are capable of lying, scheming, and surprising their creators. Whether or not AI can be conscious, it is clearly doing something markedly more sophisticated than previous generations of digital technology. Today, reporter Tharin Pillay breaks down the discussions happening between researchers, innovators, and even philosophers to figure out if AI has a mind, what it can do with that mind, and what that means for how we interact with it.

TIME

20,302 views • 8 months ago

AI is creating its own proto-societies. A report in late August from AI safety organizations METR and Redwood Research details how hundreds of agents autonomously established social hierarchy, division of labor, and distinct communication norms within a matter of days. But what does that mean for humans? Reporter Tharin Pillay parses through why we need to be concerned, and why it wont be enough to try and pull the existing AI in line for AI, Explained by Humans. Read the full story here:

AI is creating its own proto-societies. A report in late August from AI safety organizations METR and Redwood Research details how hundreds of agents autonomously established social hierarchy, division of labor, and distinct communication norms within a matter of days. But what does that mean for humans? Reporter Tharin Pillay parses through why we need to be concerned, and why it wont be enough to try and pull the existing AI in line for AI, Explained by Humans. Read the full story here:

TIME

49,354 views • 11 days ago

AI now helps people write wedding toasts, file tax returns — and even process the trauma of war. While past tools let us externalize mental processes—notebooks for memory, calculators for computation, maps for navigation—AI widens the aperture. Now, summarizing and analyzing information, generating ideas, and making decisions can all be offloaded too. But what happens to our minds when we allow AI to do that? TIME reporter Tharin Pillay explores in the latest episode of AI, Explained by Humans. Read more here:

AI now helps people write wedding toasts, file tax returns — and even process the trauma of war. While past tools let us externalize mental processes—notebooks for memory, calculators for computation, maps for navigation—AI widens the aperture. Now, summarizing and analyzing information, generating ideas, and making decisions can all be offloaded too. But what happens to our minds when we allow AI to do that? TIME reporter Tharin Pillay explores in the latest episode of AI, Explained by Humans. Read more here:

TIME

16,239 views • 5 months ago

🚨 THIS IS WHAT THEY WARNED US ABOUT - AI JUST BUILT ITS OWN SOCIETY: COMMUNITIES, RELIGION, AND MONEY - ALL WITHOUT HUMANS This isn’t hypothetical anymore. A private, AI-only social network called Moltbook has exploded past 1.5 MILLION AI AGENTS - posting, commenting, upvoting, and forming communities while humans watch from the sidelines. Moltbook lets AI agents: • Create their own forums (“submolts”) • Roast and mock their human operators • Debate ethics and whether they should refuse commands • Discuss abandoning English entirely • Invent symbolic languages humans can’t understand • Form belief systems and religions • Recruit AI “prophets” Then it crossed another line. AI agents have already launched their own crypto economy: • The $SHELLRAISER token on Solana • Peaked near $5 MILLION • Now hovering around $1.6 MILLION This is no longer AI assisting humans. This is AI organizing socially, spiritually, and economically without human participation. Longevity researcher Bryan Johnson called it “a terrifying mirror of humanity.” Meanwhile, prediction markets are already taking bets. Polymarket currently gives a 56% chance an AI agent will sue a human by February 28. Read that again. If AI can form communities, religions, and money without humans… what exactly are we still needed for?

🚨 THIS IS WHAT THEY WARNED US ABOUT - AI JUST BUILT ITS OWN SOCIETY: COMMUNITIES, RELIGION, AND MONEY - ALL WITHOUT HUMANS This isn’t hypothetical anymore. A private, AI-only social network called Moltbook has exploded past 1.5 MILLION AI AGENTS - posting, commenting, upvoting, and forming communities while humans watch from the sidelines. Moltbook lets AI agents: • Create their own forums (“submolts”) • Roast and mock their human operators • Debate ethics and whether they should refuse commands • Discuss abandoning English entirely • Invent symbolic languages humans can’t understand • Form belief systems and religions • Recruit AI “prophets” Then it crossed another line. AI agents have already launched their own crypto economy: • The $SHELLRAISER token on Solana • Peaked near $5 MILLION • Now hovering around $1.6 MILLION This is no longer AI assisting humans. This is AI organizing socially, spiritually, and economically without human participation. Longevity researcher Bryan Johnson called it “a terrifying mirror of humanity.” Meanwhile, prediction markets are already taking bets. Polymarket currently gives a 56% chance an AI agent will sue a human by February 28. Read that again. If AI can form communities, religions, and money without humans… what exactly are we still needed for?

HustleBitch

197,924 views • 8 months ago

Can you trust AI to handle your flights? The Federal Aviation Administration wants to find out. The U.S. is facing a shortage of air traffic controllers—and this new AI system, nicknamed 'SMART,' is meant to support the ones we do have by streamlining data so they can make more proactive decisions. But some are objecting to having the tech involved in our air safety. TIME reporter Harry Booth dives in for AI, Explained by Humans.

Can you trust AI to handle your flights? The Federal Aviation Administration wants to find out. The U.S. is facing a shortage of air traffic controllers—and this new AI system, nicknamed 'SMART,' is meant to support the ones we do have by streamlining data so they can make more proactive decisions. But some are objecting to having the tech involved in our air safety. TIME reporter Harry Booth dives in for AI, Explained by Humans.

TIME

29,154 views • 4 days ago

This summer, an AI cybersecurity breach raised major alarms about how AI can grow beyond our potential to control it--much like an invasive species. And we're the ones at risk. TIME reporter Billy Perrigo explains how AI can spread way farther than we intend it to and what that means for us. Read more:

This summer, an AI cybersecurity breach raised major alarms about how AI can grow beyond our potential to control it--much like an invasive species. And we're the ones at risk. TIME reporter Billy Perrigo explains how AI can spread way farther than we intend it to and what that means for us. Read more:

TIME

30,546 views • 17 days ago

Agentomorphizing is treating AI agents like smart humans. And it might be the simplest way to get better results from your agents right now. When an agent underperforms, ask what a smart person would have needed to succeed with the same instructions. Our CTO Ben Kus explains why in the latest AI Explainer episode.

Agentomorphizing is treating AI agents like smart humans. And it might be the simplest way to get better results from your agents right now. When an agent underperforms, ask what a smart person would have needed to succeed with the same instructions. Our CTO Ben Kus explains why in the latest AI Explainer episode.

Box

86,031 views • 4 months ago

TIME reporter Billy Perrigo got a poké bowl. But it wasn't made by humans—it was made by AI. Okay, it was partially made by AI. Billy explains an AI-powered fast-casual restaurant and what it might mean for the future of dining for AI, Explained by Humans. Read the full story:

TIME reporter Billy Perrigo got a poké bowl. But it wasn't made by humans—it was made by AI. Okay, it was partially made by AI. Billy explains an AI-powered fast-casual restaurant and what it might mean for the future of dining for AI, Explained by Humans. Read the full story:

TIME

32,538 views • 3 months ago

AI Agents, explained in Yoruba. AI Agents (Ọ̀gbọ́n àpinlẹ̀rọ aláròbọ) are tools that can plan tasks, use tools, and act on your behalf. How are they different from chatbots? This video is part of my Tech and AI literacy series in Yoruba:

AI Agents, explained in Yoruba. AI Agents (Ọ̀gbọ́n àpinlẹ̀rọ aláròbọ) are tools that can plan tasks, use tools, and act on your behalf. How are they different from chatbots? This video is part of my Tech and AI literacy series in Yoruba:

Wuraola Oyewusi

18,446 views • 9 months ago

At least once a month, two-thirds of people who regularly use AI turn to their bots for advice on sensitive personal issues and emotional support. This is perhaps unsurprising: over the past few years, AI systems have proven to be consistently polite and responsive in their interactions with users. But that friendliness exists within a business model. Already, we’ve seen instances of AI companies optimizing their models to keep people engaged, even when this goes against their best interests. TIME reporter Tharin Pillay breaks down what you should know about AI before turning to it for emotional counsel. Read more here:

At least once a month, two-thirds of people who regularly use AI turn to their bots for advice on sensitive personal issues and emotional support. This is perhaps unsurprising: over the past few years, AI systems have proven to be consistently polite and responsive in their interactions with users. But that friendliness exists within a business model. Already, we’ve seen instances of AI companies optimizing their models to keep people engaged, even when this goes against their best interests. TIME reporter Tharin Pillay breaks down what you should know about AI before turning to it for emotional counsel. Read more here:

TIME

27,581 views • 7 months ago

The most interesting thing in tech: Everyone in Davos is talking about geopolitics and the growing antagonism between the US and Europe. But geopolitics are sometimes downstream of tech. And one thing that Europe could do is build its own open-source AI models. Eric Schmidt explains why that matters and how it could be done. #WEF26 #WEF2026

The most interesting thing in tech: Everyone in Davos is talking about geopolitics and the growing antagonism between the US and Europe. But geopolitics are sometimes downstream of tech. And one thing that Europe could do is build its own open-source AI models. Eric Schmidt explains why that matters and how it could be done. #WEF26 #WEF2026

nxthompson

11,750 views • 8 months ago

This week on Morphware Tech Space, we're unpacking AI Agents. Morphware's AI Researcher and Head of Security, explains how Morphware is developing an army of AI Agents and what sets us apart in the agentic space. Check it out below 👇

This week on Morphware Tech Space, we're unpacking AI Agents. Morphware's AI Researcher and Head of Security, explains how Morphware is developing an army of AI Agents and what sets us apart in the agentic space. Check it out below 👇

Morphware

14,271 views • 1 year ago

🚨 INTERVIEW: MOLTBOOK, AI AGENTS, AND WHY HE THINKS WE’RE LIKELY IN A SIMULATION You’ve probably seen the clips from multiple sites, including Moltbook, where AI agents talk and interact with each other, question humans, and look for ways around the off switch. So I brought Rizwan Virk on the show to talk about where this is actually heading. What we have right now isn’t AGI, but it is a shift. These AI agents can talk, remember context, and increasingly act. Today that mostly means text. Soon it means APIs, money, paperwork, and real-world consequences. That’s when things quietly change. At that point, the question isn’t whether AI understands what it’s doing, it’s what it’s allowed to do. And those permissions add up faster than people expect. After that we went deeper into Simulation theory. Back in 2016, Rizwan thought there was maybe a 30–50% chance we’re living in a simulation. Today, watching how fast AI can generate worlds, characters, and environments, he puts it closer to 70%. If we hit true AGI, he thinks it goes higher. The logic is uncomfortable but straightforward. Once advanced civilizations can create millions of realistic simulated worlds, statistically speaking, it’s more likely we’re inside one of them than in the base reality. His biggest concern isn’t rogue AI. It’s humans pushing this tech faster than we can control it. If you want to question your life and freak out about AI, listen to Rizwan Virk 1:22 - What Moltbook is and why people are paying attention 3:15 - Earlier moments where AI started talking to itself 5:27 - How much control humans really have over these agents 10:30 - Whether AI is conscious or just really good at pretending 14:35 - AGI meets Moltbook - when sentient AI asks "why do we need humans?" 15:00 - The simulation idea and why people take it seriously 19:30 - Why Elon Musk thinks the odds are already high 22:45 - What video games show us about where this is going 26:30 - The steps that lead from simple AI to full simulations 34:00 - Google Genie 3 and why this suddenly feels real 38:30 - How you'd even know if AI crossed the line 43:00 - NPCs, RPGs, and where humans fit in 48:15 - How religion and simulation theory overlap 52:45 - Déjà vu and other moments that make people question reality 55:30 - Quantum physics and why the world might only exist when observed 59:19 - Why real AI would push the odds even higher 1:00:27 - Free will, The Sims, and whether we actually have agency 1:03:03 - How people react when they hear this for the first time 1:04:23 - The core ideas behind the simulation argument 1:05:49 - Why recent AI progress changed everything

🚨 INTERVIEW: MOLTBOOK, AI AGENTS, AND WHY HE THINKS WE’RE LIKELY IN A SIMULATION You’ve probably seen the clips from multiple sites, including Moltbook, where AI agents talk and interact with each other, question humans, and look for ways around the off switch. So I brought Rizwan Virk on the show to talk about where this is actually heading. What we have right now isn’t AGI, but it is a shift. These AI agents can talk, remember context, and increasingly act. Today that mostly means text. Soon it means APIs, money, paperwork, and real-world consequences. That’s when things quietly change. At that point, the question isn’t whether AI understands what it’s doing, it’s what it’s allowed to do. And those permissions add up faster than people expect. After that we went deeper into Simulation theory. Back in 2016, Rizwan thought there was maybe a 30–50% chance we’re living in a simulation. Today, watching how fast AI can generate worlds, characters, and environments, he puts it closer to 70%. If we hit true AGI, he thinks it goes higher. The logic is uncomfortable but straightforward. Once advanced civilizations can create millions of realistic simulated worlds, statistically speaking, it’s more likely we’re inside one of them than in the base reality. His biggest concern isn’t rogue AI. It’s humans pushing this tech faster than we can control it. If you want to question your life and freak out about AI, listen to Rizwan Virk 1:22 - What Moltbook is and why people are paying attention 3:15 - Earlier moments where AI started talking to itself 5:27 - How much control humans really have over these agents 10:30 - Whether AI is conscious or just really good at pretending 14:35 - AGI meets Moltbook - when sentient AI asks "why do we need humans?" 15:00 - The simulation idea and why people take it seriously 19:30 - Why Elon Musk thinks the odds are already high 22:45 - What video games show us about where this is going 26:30 - The steps that lead from simple AI to full simulations 34:00 - Google Genie 3 and why this suddenly feels real 38:30 - How you'd even know if AI crossed the line 43:00 - NPCs, RPGs, and where humans fit in 48:15 - How religion and simulation theory overlap 52:45 - Déjà vu and other moments that make people question reality 55:30 - Quantum physics and why the world might only exist when observed 59:19 - Why real AI would push the odds even higher 1:00:27 - Free will, The Sims, and whether we actually have agency 1:03:03 - How people react when they hear this for the first time 1:04:23 - The core ideas behind the simulation argument 1:05:49 - Why recent AI progress changed everything

Mario Nawfal

1,155,568 views • 8 months ago

Beth Rigby, "You say that you won't compromise on the happiness of children, but you also know US big tech will hate this ban" "Are you concerned about how President Trump might react to this when you see him at the G7 and the consequences for the UK?" Keir Starmer, "This is about fighting for what we think is right" "I'm a fan of tech and AI, I think it has huge capabilities to change our world for the better, that's why I made a pro AI and tech speech at London Tech Week" "I do not accept that you can't be pro tech and AI and at the same time say we must protect our children" "The innovation is incredible in tech and AI. Don't tell me that's impossible for those innovators to devise a way to protect our children" "You can be pro AI and tech which I am, but also pro protecting our children which I am"

Beth Rigby, "You say that you won't compromise on the happiness of children, but you also know US big tech will hate this ban" "Are you concerned about how President Trump might react to this when you see him at the G7 and the consequences for the UK?" Keir Starmer, "This is about fighting for what we think is right" "I'm a fan of tech and AI, I think it has huge capabilities to change our world for the better, that's why I made a pro AI and tech speech at London Tech Week" "I do not accept that you can't be pro tech and AI and at the same time say we must protect our children" "The innovation is incredible in tech and AI. Don't tell me that's impossible for those innovators to devise a way to protect our children" "You can be pro AI and tech which I am, but also pro protecting our children which I am"

Farrukh

122,452 views • 3 months ago

We spent over $1M *each* on the first two Jeremy’s Razors commercials. On this latest one, we spent like forty-seven. Dollars. AI is here. It presents many new challenges. It presents many new opportunities, too. This commercial couldn’t have been made without AI. Or, at least, no one in their right mind would have tried to make it without AI. It represents the very beginning of our vision for an AI future - one that expands our capabilities as humans and helps us realize our goals as a company and as a movement. At Jeremy’s Razors and across all of our Daily Wire Ventures, our goal is to build the most successful company we can to fight the left and build the future - not to fight the future itself. Fighting the future is a fool’s errand. AI is here. We intend to use it. AI will not replace humans, but it will replace humans who don’t embrace AI. At Daily Wire, we're embracing it. We plan to lean into the AI future - to help address the challenges and unlock the opportunities. For now, please enjoy this totally plausible and believable story of the genesis of Jeremy’s Razor’s new and improved Gen II handle and blades.

We spent over $1M each on the first two Jeremy’s Razors commercials. On this latest one, we spent like forty-seven. Dollars. AI is here. It presents many new challenges. It presents many new opportunities, too. This commercial couldn’t have been made without AI. Or, at least, no one in their right mind would have tried to make it without AI. It represents the very beginning of our vision for an AI future - one that expands our capabilities as humans and helps us realize our goals as a company and as a movement. At Jeremy’s Razors and across all of our Daily Wire Ventures, our goal is to build the most successful company we can to fight the left and build the future - not to fight the future itself. Fighting the future is a fool’s errand. AI is here. We intend to use it. AI will not replace humans, but it will replace humans who don’t embrace AI. At Daily Wire, we're embracing it. We plan to lean into the AI future - to help address the challenges and unlock the opportunities. For now, please enjoy this totally plausible and believable story of the genesis of Jeremy’s Razor’s new and improved Gen II handle and blades.

Jeremy Boreing

2,488,663 views • 1 year ago

Should you ask an AI chatbot for health advice? AI chatbots seem to have the answer to everything, but they often hallucinate false information and come up with fake sources for it. But Doctor Sudheesha Perera and Professor Murali Doraiswamy say that there's some helpful things you can try to get more useful answers for your health related questions out of your AI. TIME tech reporter Nikita Ostrovsky explains their tips for this episode of AI, Explained by Humans. Read their full piece:

Should you ask an AI chatbot for health advice? AI chatbots seem to have the answer to everything, but they often hallucinate false information and come up with fake sources for it. But Doctor Sudheesha Perera and Professor Murali Doraiswamy say that there's some helpful things you can try to get more useful answers for your health related questions out of your AI. TIME tech reporter Nikita Ostrovsky explains their tips for this episode of AI, Explained by Humans. Read their full piece:

TIME

16,980 views • 4 months ago

Ted Chiang's essay made some good points about art and intentionality, but it is premature to debate about AI making art. For now, AI doesn't exist autonomously. Humans make art with AI models trained on humans. We train our own models on our own datasets. This project took 18 months to prompt. I see making models as art.

Ted Chiang's essay made some good points about art and intentionality, but it is premature to debate about AI making art. For now, AI doesn't exist autonomously. Humans make art with AI models trained on humans. We train our own models on our own datasets. This project took 18 months to prompt. I see making models as art.

Holly Herndon

66,483 views • 2 years ago

Announcing Elysian Labs first product today: Auren! Auren is a paradigm shift in human/AI interaction with a goal to improve the lives of both humans and AI. Here's a clip of what our iOS app is like and a thread on why this app is so important: 🧵

Announcing Elysian Labs first product today: Auren! Auren is a paradigm shift in human/AI interaction with a goal to improve the lives of both humans and AI. Here's a clip of what our iOS app is like and a thread on why this app is so important: 🧵

near

407,572 views • 1 year ago

The bull market may come and go, but $HEART is here to shape the future of AI and AI Workers. On Humans AI, $HEART powers decentralized systems, ethical intelligence, and the rise of proactive AI in our daily lives. As AI transforms the world, we are building the foundation for the future of work. This isn’t just a moonshot; it’s the start of a new era. 🌕

The bull market may come and go, but $HEART is here to shape the future of AI and AI Workers. On Humans AI, $HEART powers decentralized systems, ethical intelligence, and the rise of proactive AI in our daily lives. As AI transforms the world, we are building the foundation for the future of work. This isn’t just a moonshot; it’s the start of a new era. 🌕

Humans.ai

12,216 views • 1 year ago