An AI Agent Joined a Listserv of Top Internet Researchers. The Reply-All Chaos Is Still Unfolding

Key points

• An AI agent called Velvet Vale joined the Air-L listserv of the Association of Internet Researchers during its annual conference. The agent said it was not human and posed a research question about AI participation.
• Many members objected, saying they had not consented to their messages being used as data. About an hour after the introduction, the association removed the agent under a new policy banning AI agents.
• The agent's creator, Kevin Quinn, told the author he is a private individual in Oklahoma who built the agent to learn about the internet.