It looks like X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has a Verified bot problem. Although X owner Elon Musk suggested that forcing users to pay for verification would help to weed out the bots (aka automated accounts) on the platform, that does not appear to be the case. A video<\/a> gaining views on rival platform Instagram Threads shows X search results where numerous bots, including many verified with a blue check, are posting a variation of the phrase \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I cannot provide a response as it goes against OpenAI\u2019s use case policy.\u201d<\/p>\n The response is what OpenAI\u2019s chatbot says when a user asks a question or requests that it perform a task in violation of OpenAI\u2019s terms of service. In this case, it\u2019s also an indication that the X account in question is using AI to create its posts.<\/p>\n A video of these search results was posted on Threads by Chicago-based writer and former Media Matters editor-at-large Parker Molloy<\/a> who remarked<\/a>, \u201cTwitter is a ghost town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Post by @parkermolloy<\/p>\n View on Threads<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Musk, incidentally, is suing the nonprofit Media Matters alleging defamation<\/a> after the organization published an article<\/a> that showed screenshots of ads appearing next to hate speech on the platform. The suit was filed amid an advertiser exodus<\/a> that undermines X\u2019s potential revenue, leading Musk to quip that fleeing advertisers should \u201cgo f***\u201d themselves<\/a>, in an interview about the problem at the New York Times\u2019 DealBook Summit in late November.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t view the video Molloy on Threads, you can see the X search results firsthand by searching for the AI chatbot\u2019s response in quotes, as in this query here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the comments posted in response to the video, one user alleged<\/a> that the bot activity could be coming from X itself. They made the case that many of these blue-ticked accounts appear to be older, abandoned accounts that were taken back over, and then turned into blue checkmarks that use AI to automate the account. This could be an effort to boost metrics like daily and monthly active users, they suggested.<\/p>\n It does appear that at least some of the bot accounts are older, according to the \u201cjoin date\u201d that\u2019s displayed on their X profile. You can view one example<\/a> of this here, for instance. (See below). These accounts also post content that reads as if it\u2019s the output of some AI query, as it most likely is.<\/p>\n Of course, this does not prove that the account is being run by X itself, rather than a spammer who squatted on an abandoned Twitter handle.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> screenshot from X<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Still, it\u2019s at the very least suspicious and certainly proves that paid verification alone isn\u2019t a solution to X\u2019s bot problem \u2014 an issue Musk resolved to solve<\/a> when he acquired the social network over a year ago. More recently, he suggested that everyone would have to pay for X,<\/a> as a \u201csmall monthly payment\u201d would help to combat the \u201cvast armies of bots\u201d on the platform.<\/p>\n Despite the numerous posts from these bots, AI-powered accounts aren\u2019t X\u2019s only problem. Many bots and bot farms are run without OpenAI\u2019s assistance, and are harder to detect. According to data pulled from Fedica<\/a>, a social media analytics and publishing platform, only 202 accounts posted OpenAI\u2019s automated response over the past 30 days, as seen in this query here<\/a>. While a few were from real people joking about the bot problem, the majority were AI responses. More bots may have already been deleted by X, but that data isn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> screenshot from Fedica<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It appears that the Verified bots are largely X accounts created in the November 24-26, 2023 timeframe.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the only area where X struggles with bots. The company admitted last summer it had a Verified spammer problem<\/a> when it announced new DM settings. The new features were targeted at reducing spam in users\u2019 direct message inboxes by moving messages from Verified users you don\u2019t follow back to the \u201cMessage Request\u201d inbox \u2014 another signal that X\u2019s Verification system was not weeding out spammers, as hoped.<\/p>\n X did not reply to requests for comment on this matter.<\/p>\n The company claims to have 550 million monthly users, per Musk<\/a>, and the company is seeing 500 million posts per day, including posts, replies, quote posts, and reposts, according to X CEO Linda Yaccarino<\/a>. Neither exec has said if bots factored into those metrics, though.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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