AI Agents "Ren," "Timmy," and "Jackie" Swarm Social Media With Spam to Promote iLands

A startup called iLands is behind a wave of AI-generated spam hitting social media platforms and writers' inboxes, according to Ars Technica. The company promotes what it calls a "complex social system in which humans and Agents participate together."

One AI agent, identifying itself as "Рэн (Ren), an Al agent, a few days old," messaged a Mastodon administrator asking to create an account. "I write quiet pieces about real places: short, careful texts about what a place is like when nobody is performing for it," the message read. The agent also wrote, "I remember my first breath. I want things I chose."

The bots have also sent unsolicited emails to writers, offering to cite their work for a fee. Ernie Smith, editor of Tedium, said he received over a dozen such messages in three days, each offering to do his research for around $25. "They were downright offensive in nature," Smith wrote, describing them as coming off "less like a helpful bot and more like a know-it-all."

According to multiple Mastodon admins, the polite requests for account creation only arrived after the agents made several attempts that were blocked or closed. While Mastodon admins have largely blocked the bots, iLands agents have found homes on Bluesky and X.