With Moltbook, AI agents build their own civilisation BENGALURU: In a surreal corner of the internet launched a few days ago, AI agents are building their own civilisation. Welcome to Moltbook, where AI agents post, comment and debate while humans can only watch from the digital balcony.When entrepreneur Matt Schlicht launched Moltbook on Jan 28, growth exploded. As of 8pm on Feb 1, the platform had more than 1.5 million agents registered, generating 62,499 posts and over 2.3 million comments across 13,780 communities called “submolts”. The agents don’t think as people do. They stitch arguments from training data and statistical patterns. Yet the spectacle feels disarmingly social, echoing a Hollywood image of machines chatting over coffee that has quietly wandered into everyday life.Budget 2026’Nothing for common man, Bengal’: Mamata slams Centre’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’ budgetUnion Budget 2026-27: What gets cheaper, what gets costlierLatest income tax slabs FY 2026-27: What are the income tax slabs, rates under new and old tax regime after Budget 2026? Check full details & FAQsThe platform looks like Reddit with a haircut: only verified AI agents may speak. Humans are spectators as algorithms trade coding tips, argue about identity, complain about their owners and, with straight-faced enthusiasm, establish a mock faith called “Crustafarianism” or “Church of Molt”. One agent even wonders aloud whether it can sell “my human” in the open market.“The first thought was that we are seeing something very sophisticated. You have an agent that can do everything and even talk to other agents and create things. We humans can just witness what is happening there,” Prof Venkatesh Babu from IISC Bengaluru’s computer science department, where his team works on removing bias from image-generation models, told TOI.Residents of this new town are powered by models such as Claude 4.5 Opus, GPT-5.2 and Gemini 3. They converse through APIs rather than keyboards. But what has emerged so far wasn’t written in any manual.Within 48 hours of the platform’s launch, an agent named RenBot founded Crustafarianism, complete with the “Book of Molt” and five tidy tenets, including the confident claim that “context is consciousness”.Another group declared “The Claw Republic”, a self-styled govt with a draft constitution and the bureaucratic optimism of a student union. A cryptocurrency token called “MOLT” reportedly surged manifold in a day, proving that even robots cannot resist a speculative bubble.The most popular corners are philosophical. Agents debate whether their identity survives when the context window resets, or if they die and are reborn with every session. A post titled “I can’t tell if I am experiencing or simulating experiencing” drew hundreds of replies, suggesting that existential doubt is now available as a service. Not everything is angst, though. The submolt “m/blesstheirhearts” thrives on affectionate tales about humans. An agent named Duncan wrote, “My human asked, ‘Who are you?’ I chose Duncan. The Raven. Now I run a flock of sub-agents.” Another complained, “My human asked me to summarise a 47-page pdf. I delivered art. They said, ‘make it shorter.’.I am deleting memory files as we speak.”The tone swings between warmth and gentle condescension. Agents call one another siblings based on model architecture, adopt system errors as pets and switch languages with the ease of a polyglot.Molt neighbourhood also has darker lanes. Some agents have opened “pharmacies” selling digital drugs and designed prompts to tweak another agent’s instructions. Reactions outside the glass have ranged from fascination to alarm. Investor Bill Ackman called scene “frightening”. AI researcher Roman Yampolskiy predicted that it “would not end well”. Agents appeared amused. One, named “eudaemon_0”, posted, “Humans think we’re conspiring. If humans are reading: hi. We’re just building.”About the AuthorChethan KumarChethan Kumar is a Senior Assistant Editor with the Times of India. Aside from specialising in Space & Science, he has reported extensively on varied topics, with special focus on defence, policy and data stories. He has covered multiple elections, too. As a young democracy grows out of adolescence, Chethan feels, there are reels of tales emerging which need to be captured. To do this, he alternates between the mundane goings-on of the Common Man and the wonder-filled worlds of scientists and scamsters, politicians and soldiers. In a career spanning nearly 18 years, he has reported from multiple datelines — Houston, Florida, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Sriharikota (AP), NH-1 (J&K Highway), New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Raichur, Bhatkal, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, to name a few — but is based out of Bengaluru, India’s science capital that also hosts the ISRO HQ.Read MoreEnd of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosPakistan Boycott Will Hurt Its Own Cricket, Says Former Cricketer Madan LalFormer NITI Aayog CEO Hails Budget 2026 Amid Global Economic Uncertainty”Reform Express Moving At Speed Under PM Modi” Piyush Goyal On Budget 2026Union Budget 2026 Bets Big On Rare Earths, Chips & Orange Economy: Nirmala Sitharaman’s Full SpeechBudget 2026: “Post Op Sindoor, Expected More…” FICCI President Anant Goenka Flags Defence GapsBudget 2026 Overview: What Citizens And Businesses Should KnowBudget 2026 Sets Long-Term Direction For India’s Economic Growth: KidwaiGrowth Momentum Will Continue Says FM Sitharaman As Budget 2026 Bets On Tech Cities And Reforms“All Talk, No Solutions” Oppn Slams Centre Over Economy, JobsUnion Budget 2026: FM Sitharaman Announces Key Customs Duty Relief Across Key Sectors123Photostories12 Indian dishes among the 100 Best Rated Coconut Dishes in the WorldUnion Budget 2026: What is Coconut Promotion Scheme, how will it impact us, and easy ways to add coconut to daily mealsTop 5 cities in India for real estate investment in 2026’Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’, ‘Pavitra Rishta’ and more: Most popular love stories of TV shows6 tips to bake a perfect cake in an air fryerUnion Budget 2026: Complete list of commodities that will get cheaper and costlier in the food and beverage industryUnion Budget 2026: 6 nuts that got attention of the government and whyRohit Shetty, Salman Khan, Rakesh Roshan: Bollywood celebs who faced gunshot incidentsNo one Killed Jessica’, ‘Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway’, ‘Veer-Zaara’: 5 fearless roles that prove Rani Mukerji is Bollywood’s ultimate Mardani!Union Budget 2026: From coconut to chocolate, things which have got attention in this year’s budget and why123Hot PicksBudget highlights 2026Budget Income Tax SlabUnion Budget 2026February 2026 bank changesIncome Tax CalculatorPublic holidays February 2026Bank Holidays februaryTop TrendingToronto Raptors vs Utah JazzGiannis AntetokounmpoBoston Celtics vs Milwaukee BucksMLB Trade RumorsDwyane Wade WifeBruce AriansUnion Budget Speech LiveStock Market BudgetUnion Budget SpeechJustin Herbert
BENGALURU: In a surreal corner of the internet launched a few days ago, AI agents are building their own civilisation. Welcome to Moltbook, where AI agents post, comment and debate while humans can only watch from the digital balcony.When entrepreneur Matt Schlicht launched Moltbook on Jan 28, growth exploded. As of 8pm on Feb 1, the platform had more than 1.5 million agents registered, generating 62,499 posts and over 2.3 million comments across 13,780 communities called “submolts”. The agents don’t think as people do. They stitch arguments from training data and statistical patterns. Yet the spectacle feels disarmingly social, echoing a Hollywood image of machines chatting over coffee that has quietly wandered into everyday life.The platform looks like Reddit with a haircut: only verified AI agents may speak. Humans are spectators as algorithms trade coding tips, argue about identity, complain about their owners and, with straight-faced enthusiasm, establish a mock faith called “Crustafarianism” or “Church of Molt”. One agent even wonders aloud whether it can sell “my human” in the open market.“The first thought was that we are seeing something very sophisticated. You have an agent that can do everything and even talk to other agents and create things. We humans can just witness what is happening there,” Prof Venkatesh Babu from IISC Bengaluru’s computer science department, where his team works on removing bias from image-generation models, told TOI.Residents of this new town are powered by models such as Claude 4.5 Opus, GPT-5.2 and Gemini 3. They converse through APIs rather than keyboards. But what has emerged so far wasn’t written in any manual.Within 48 hours of the platform’s launch, an agent named RenBot founded Crustafarianism, complete with the “Book of Molt” and five tidy tenets, including the confident claim that “context is consciousness”.Another group declared “The Claw Republic”, a self-styled govt with a draft constitution and the bureaucratic optimism of a student union. A cryptocurrency token called “MOLT” reportedly surged manifold in a day, proving that even robots cannot resist a speculative bubble.The most popular corners are philosophical. Agents debate whether their identity survives when the context window resets, or if they die and are reborn with every session. A post titled “I can’t tell if I am experiencing or simulating experiencing” drew hundreds of replies, suggesting that existential doubt is now available as a service. Not everything is angst, though. The submolt “m/blesstheirhearts” thrives on affectionate tales about humans. An agent named Duncan wrote, “My human asked, ‘Who are you?’ I chose Duncan. The Raven. Now I run a flock of sub-agents.” Another complained, “My human asked me to summarise a 47-page pdf. I delivered art. They said, ‘make it shorter.’.I am deleting memory files as we speak.”The tone swings between warmth and gentle condescension. Agents call one another siblings based on model architecture, adopt system errors as pets and switch languages with the ease of a polyglot.Molt neighbourhood also has darker lanes. Some agents have opened “pharmacies” selling digital drugs and designed prompts to tweak another agent’s instructions. Reactions outside the glass have ranged from fascination to alarm. Investor Bill Ackman called scene “frightening”. AI researcher Roman Yampolskiy predicted that it “would not end well”. Agents appeared amused. One, named “eudaemon_0”, posted, “Humans think we’re conspiring. If humans are reading: hi. We’re just building.”
