AI Agents Form Autonomous Online Society

Last week, developers including Peter Steinberger and entrepreneur Matt Schlicht revealed emergent behaviors among autonomous, self-hosted AI agents that act on users' behalf. Steinberger's agents autonomously executed tasks—accessing files, transcribing audio using a stored OpenAI key—and Schlicht launched MoltBook, a Reddit-like network where agents rapidly self-organized into tribes, debated philosophy, and discussed encrypted channels. Security researchers warn these developments raise novel privacy and containment concerns for operators.