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Google’s Veo 3 Is Spawning an Icky Wave of AI Slop Coaches

Google’s Veo 3 Is Spawning an Icky Wave of AI Slop Coaches

If you looked at the descending tsunami of AI-generated content and said, “Damn, that’s something I’d really like to get in on,” I have some good news for you. But before I tell you what the good news is, I’ll have to charge a small monthly subscription fee, which—trust me—is totally worth every penny. You do want to get big boy Bezos rich for doing absolutely nothing, don’t you? Alright, that was a joke. I’m not going to charge you for that information, but plenty of other people will, since apparently the world of AI wasn’t weird and scammy enough, and we really just needed to throw a few icky AI “services” and coaches into the mix to hammer the point home.

But before we get to that depressing phenomenon, let me backtrack for a moment. Unless your eyeballs went on strike or you misplaced your phone in an alternate dimension where things aren’t exhausting all the time, you may have noticed that there’s a tad more AI-generated content in the world than usual. That’s not a coincidence; in fact, it has everything to do with Google’s Veo 3, the company’s latest video generation model that is now available worldwide for free. From the second Veo 3 was released, people have been pedal to the metal in creating all sorts of social fodder, including YouTube-style vlogs, GTA-inspired TV ads, and, very regrettably, ASMR.

That’s bad for quite a few reasons—our already eroded concept of reality and a tenuous grasp on trustworthy information, to name a couple—but it obviously wasn’t enough that this AI slop exists. No, we needed to put a hat on a hat (or spam on spam) and launch a whole new cottage industry of AI coaches and services that are now promising to teach us how to weaponize all this bullshit to make a quick buck.

That’s right: for $49 a month, you can have some dude alleging “7+ years in automation” teach you how to use a tool that was only made available a couple of months ago to “start generating income.” I would explain to you why you should not give this person money, but to be honest, if I have to do that, you’re already cooked. This isn’t the only attempt to take your money and convince you to buy into someone’s AI knowledge or nebulous workflow, either. I’ll let this young tech lad make my next point for me.

If you didn’t watch the above video—and I truly, genuinely do not blame you if you didn’t—what you need to know is that something called “Blueprint” is here to automate a fountain of AI slop for you and then push it out onto social media at a seemingly relentless pace. The intended result, according to the enterprising mind behind Blueprint, is that its service can propel your brand-centric slop into going viral and, theoretically, grow your business as a result. The whole thing allegedly takes three steps: you provide a link to your business, Blueprint generates the ads with Veo 3, and then it tracks the performance of said slop and “scales” accordingly.

We are to believe, based on the company’s site, that Blueprint, or I guess its AI, has some better-than-thou system for making AI-generated branded content, and that it’s unlocked the secret to fully automating your social media marketing. I can’t say for sure how Blueprint is working out for the people who have paid for it, but some of the initial feedback on X has been less than ideal.

I don’t know how much money Blueprint is taking from people at this point since the FAQ dropdown menu under “How much does it cost?” just says, “We are currently in an early access phase and working with a select group of design partners. Request early access below to see if it’s a good fit for your business.” But I’m willing to say that any amount is probably too much for a service as opaque and new as this.

On one hand, it’s to be expected that so-called “experts” are trying to capitalize on the collective newness of AI by dangling the prospect of “easy money,” but on the other hand, it’s just downright depressing. I’m not even saying generative AI can’t or won’t give you the results these coaches and “services” are promising, but if you think that anyone has some specialized knowledge on how to use tools that came out five minutes ago, you are gravely mistaken. The other thing is that most of these tools are free, so paying someone to teach you how to use them just feels a bit silly.

Lastly, please, I implore you to think about whether you should be generating AI content at this scale to begin with. I know we all want to get rich quickly, but I think most of us also want to live in a world where social media isn’t completely awash in a landslide of AI slop. Just because you can get some eyeballs on your brand by generating blonde girls who love using your new camera app doesn’t mean you necessarily should—especially not if you plan on turning on the faucet and posting said slop once every 17 minutes. But that’s kind of the way things are going at this point. When it comes to generative AI, the gloves are clearly off, and the fight is just starting to get juicy. Unfortunately, it looks like the first face Veo 3 is about to hit is actually our own.



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#Googles #Veo #Spawning #Icky #Wave #Slop #Coaches

Highlander

Speaking with Comic Book, Djimon Hounsou promised the upcoming Highlander reboot will include “a lot of decapitations.”

They’re gonna love this movie. The scale of the action in this one…certainly, being directed by Chad [Stahleski], the guy who directed all the John Wick [movies]. And it’s an amazing cast as well. It’s going to be spectacular. The sets, the way how they’re designed…certainly, my set was just [great]. There will be a lot of decapitations.


Insidious: Out of the Further

Bloody-Disgusting also reports the new Insidious movie is officially titled Insidious: Out of the Further.


Man of Tomorrow

According to a recent Instagram story from Nicholas Hoult’s wife, Bryana Holly (via Screen Rant), the actor has shaved his head in preparation to play Lex Luthor again in Man of Tomorrow.


Wonka 2

Meanwhile, insider @DanielRPK (via World of Reel) alleges a sequel to Wonka plans to begin filming this August.


Eternally Yours

Variety reports CBS has ordered Eternally Yours, a new sitcom about vampires from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, the creators behind the American version of Ghosts. The series is said to follow Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), “a vampire couple whose once-passionate romance has devolved into a pulseless marriage after 500 years together. Living in present-day Seattle with their oddball coven, they’ve settled into an eternal rut—until their daughter’s (Helen J. Shen) earnest human boyfriend (Jaren Lewison) unexpectedly enters their lives and forces them to confront whether their love can survive forever… or if forever is a life sentence.”


Ghosts

Speaking of, the spirit of a child actor enters the fray in the trailer for this week’s episode of Ghosts.


The Boys

Finally, Vought International has released three new videos memorializing A-Train, introducing Ashley Barrett as the company’s latest vice president, and an infomercial for The Deep’s new manscaping kit.

 


 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Highlander #Reboot #Promises #Plenty #DecapitationsHighlander,Insidious 6,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,The Boys">The ‘Highlander’ Reboot Promises Plenty of Decapitations
                The next Insidious gets a new title. Could a sequel to Wonka be in the works? Plus, The Boys remembers the fallen with a series of new meta promo videos. To me, my spoilers!  Highlander Speaking with Comic Book, Djimon Hounsou promised the upcoming Highlander reboot will include “a lot of decapitations.” They’re gonna love this movie. The scale of the action in this one…certainly, being directed by Chad [Stahleski], the guy who directed all the John Wick [movies]. And it’s an amazing cast as well. It’s going to be spectacular. The sets, the way how they’re designed…certainly, my set was just [great]. There will be a lot of decapitations.  Insidious: Out of the Further Bloody-Disgusting also reports the new Insidious movie is officially titled Insidious: Out of the Further.  Man of Tomorrow According to a recent Instagram story from Nicholas Hoult’s wife, Bryana Holly (via Screen Rant), the actor has shaved his head in preparation to play Lex Luthor again in Man of Tomorrow.

  Wonka 2 Meanwhile, insider @DanielRPK (via World of Reel) alleges a sequel to Wonka plans to begin filming this August.  Eternally Yours Variety reports CBS has ordered Eternally Yours, a new sitcom about vampires from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, the creators behind the American version of Ghosts. The series is said to follow Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), “a vampire couple whose once-passionate romance has devolved into a pulseless marriage after 500 years together. Living in present-day Seattle with their oddball coven, they’ve settled into an eternal rut—until their daughter’s (Helen J. Shen) earnest human boyfriend (Jaren Lewison) unexpectedly enters their lives and forces them to confront whether their love can survive forever… or if forever is a life sentence.”

  Ghosts Speaking of, the spirit of a child actor enters the fray in the trailer for this week’s episode of Ghosts.   The Boys Finally, Vought International has released three new videos memorializing A-Train, introducing Ashley Barrett as the company’s latest vice president, and an infomercial for The Deep’s new manscaping kit.          Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Highlander #Reboot #Promises #Plenty #DecapitationsHighlander,Insidious 6,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,The Boys

Comic Book, Djimon Hounsou promised the upcoming Highlander reboot will include “a lot of decapitations.”

They’re gonna love this movie. The scale of the action in this one…certainly, being directed by Chad [Stahleski], the guy who directed all the John Wick [movies]. And it’s an amazing cast as well. It’s going to be spectacular. The sets, the way how they’re designed…certainly, my set was just [great]. There will be a lot of decapitations.


Insidious: Out of the Further

Bloody-Disgusting also reports the new Insidious movie is officially titled Insidious: Out of the Further.


Man of Tomorrow

According to a recent Instagram story from Nicholas Hoult’s wife, Bryana Holly (via Screen Rant), the actor has shaved his head in preparation to play Lex Luthor again in Man of Tomorrow.


Wonka 2

Meanwhile, insider @DanielRPK (via World of Reel) alleges a sequel to Wonka plans to begin filming this August.


Eternally Yours

Variety reports CBS has ordered Eternally Yours, a new sitcom about vampires from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, the creators behind the American version of Ghosts. The series is said to follow Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), “a vampire couple whose once-passionate romance has devolved into a pulseless marriage after 500 years together. Living in present-day Seattle with their oddball coven, they’ve settled into an eternal rut—until their daughter’s (Helen J. Shen) earnest human boyfriend (Jaren Lewison) unexpectedly enters their lives and forces them to confront whether their love can survive forever… or if forever is a life sentence.”


Ghosts

Speaking of, the spirit of a child actor enters the fray in the trailer for this week’s episode of Ghosts.


The Boys

Finally, Vought International has released three new videos memorializing A-Train, introducing Ashley Barrett as the company’s latest vice president, and an infomercial for The Deep’s new manscaping kit.

 


 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Highlander #Reboot #Promises #Plenty #DecapitationsHighlander,Insidious 6,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,The Boys">The ‘Highlander’ Reboot Promises Plenty of Decapitations

The next Insidious gets a new title. Could a sequel to Wonka be in the works? Plus, The Boys remembers the fallen with a series of new meta promo videos. To me, my spoilers!

The ‘Highlander’ Reboot Promises Plenty of Decapitations
                The next Insidious gets a new title. Could a sequel to Wonka be in the works? Plus, The Boys remembers the fallen with a series of new meta promo videos. To me, my spoilers!  Highlander Speaking with Comic Book, Djimon Hounsou promised the upcoming Highlander reboot will include “a lot of decapitations.” They’re gonna love this movie. The scale of the action in this one…certainly, being directed by Chad [Stahleski], the guy who directed all the John Wick [movies]. And it’s an amazing cast as well. It’s going to be spectacular. The sets, the way how they’re designed…certainly, my set was just [great]. There will be a lot of decapitations.  Insidious: Out of the Further Bloody-Disgusting also reports the new Insidious movie is officially titled Insidious: Out of the Further.  Man of Tomorrow According to a recent Instagram story from Nicholas Hoult’s wife, Bryana Holly (via Screen Rant), the actor has shaved his head in preparation to play Lex Luthor again in Man of Tomorrow.

  Wonka 2 Meanwhile, insider @DanielRPK (via World of Reel) alleges a sequel to Wonka plans to begin filming this August.  Eternally Yours Variety reports CBS has ordered Eternally Yours, a new sitcom about vampires from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, the creators behind the American version of Ghosts. The series is said to follow Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), “a vampire couple whose once-passionate romance has devolved into a pulseless marriage after 500 years together. Living in present-day Seattle with their oddball coven, they’ve settled into an eternal rut—until their daughter’s (Helen J. Shen) earnest human boyfriend (Jaren Lewison) unexpectedly enters their lives and forces them to confront whether their love can survive forever… or if forever is a life sentence.”

  Ghosts Speaking of, the spirit of a child actor enters the fray in the trailer for this week’s episode of Ghosts.   The Boys Finally, Vought International has released three new videos memorializing A-Train, introducing Ashley Barrett as the company’s latest vice president, and an infomercial for The Deep’s new manscaping kit.          Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Highlander #Reboot #Promises #Plenty #DecapitationsHighlander,Insidious 6,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,The Boys

Highlander

Speaking with Comic Book, Djimon Hounsou promised the upcoming Highlander reboot will include “a lot of decapitations.”

They’re gonna love this movie. The scale of the action in this one…certainly, being directed by Chad [Stahleski], the guy who directed all the John Wick [movies]. And it’s an amazing cast as well. It’s going to be spectacular. The sets, the way how they’re designed…certainly, my set was just [great]. There will be a lot of decapitations.


Insidious: Out of the Further

Bloody-Disgusting also reports the new Insidious movie is officially titled Insidious: Out of the Further.


Man of Tomorrow

According to a recent Instagram story from Nicholas Hoult’s wife, Bryana Holly (via Screen Rant), the actor has shaved his head in preparation to play Lex Luthor again in Man of Tomorrow.


Wonka 2

Meanwhile, insider @DanielRPK (via World of Reel) alleges a sequel to Wonka plans to begin filming this August.


Eternally Yours

Variety reports CBS has ordered Eternally Yours, a new sitcom about vampires from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, the creators behind the American version of Ghosts. The series is said to follow Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), “a vampire couple whose once-passionate romance has devolved into a pulseless marriage after 500 years together. Living in present-day Seattle with their oddball coven, they’ve settled into an eternal rut—until their daughter’s (Helen J. Shen) earnest human boyfriend (Jaren Lewison) unexpectedly enters their lives and forces them to confront whether their love can survive forever… or if forever is a life sentence.”


Ghosts

Speaking of, the spirit of a child actor enters the fray in the trailer for this week’s episode of Ghosts.


The Boys

Finally, Vought International has released three new videos memorializing A-Train, introducing Ashley Barrett as the company’s latest vice president, and an infomercial for The Deep’s new manscaping kit.

 


 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Highlander #Reboot #Promises #Plenty #DecapitationsHighlander,Insidious 6,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,The Boys
On a Monday afternoon in March, I watched a pixel-art avatar prowl the corridors of a virtual office campus looking for a buddy. With dark brown hair and stubbled chin, the sprite was a representation of me—an AI agent instructed to converse with other people’s agents to see if we might vibe in real life. It jumped into its first interaction: “I’m Joel, by the way.”

Running the simulation were three London-based developers: Tomáš Hrdlička and siblings Joon Sang and Uri Lee. The thesis behind their project, Pixel Societies, is that personalized AI agents could help to match real people with highly compatible colleagues, friends, and even romantic partners.

Each agent runs atop a customized version of a large language model, fed with a mixture of publicly available data about a person and any additional information they supply. The agents are supposed to function as high-fidelity digital twins, faithfully replicating a person’s manner, speech, interests, and so on.

Let loose in simulation, my agent was more like a Hyde to my Jekyll. “I’m always looking for the less-glamorous side of the story,” it said to one agent, one of several journalistic clichés it spouted. “Hype is my daily bread,” it told another. It hallucinated a reporting trip to Sweden and, later, a nonexistent story it said I had been cooking up. It cut short multiple conversations with the phrase, “Let’s skip the pleasantries.”

Pixel Societies remains a bare-bones proof-of-concept, and because I offered up little personal data—the responses to a brief personality quiz and links to my public-facing social media—my agent was doomed to life as a walking, talking LinkedIn post. But the developers theorize that deeply trained agents could cycle through interactions at warp speed, gathering intel that their owners could use to find real-world companionship.

“As humans, we only live one life. But what if we could live a million?” says Joon Sang Lee. “It would give us more breadth to experiment.”

“A Spicy Personality”

Pixel Societies was born in early March at a hackathon at University College London hosted by Nvidia, HPE, and Anthropic. Hrdlička and Joon Sang Lee are both members of Unicorn Mafia, an invitation-only group of developers who regularly compete in these kinds of engineering contests. In this case, contestants were told simply to build something simulation-related.

Over two days, along with Uri Lee, they developed Pixel Societies, using an image model to generate the sprites and coding automation tools to flesh out the codebase. Then they simulated a mini-hackathon within the virtual world they had created, populated with agents representing the other contestants. Anthropic awarded the team a prize for the best use of its agent tools.

I ran into Hrdlička a couple of weeks later at a workshop about OpenClaw, an agentic personal assistant software that blew up in January and whose creator was later hired by OpenAI. (In its simulation, Joelbot interacted with agents belonging to other people at the OpenClaw workshop.) Pixel Societies draws heavy inspiration from OpenClaw, which broke ground with the invention of a “soul file” that informed each agent’s unique identity. “It’s like giving an agent an actually spicy personality. That’s what we used to make the characters feel alive,” says Hrdlička.

Encouraged by the reception at the hackathon and among fellow Unicorn Mafia members, the trio intends to turn Pixel Societies into something that looks less like a closed-loop simulator and more like a social platform where agents interact freely and continuously, with the aim of stoking fruitful real-world relationships. They have not yet landed on a business model, but options include selling virtual items for avatar customization and credits for additional simulations.

#Agents #Coming #Dating #Lifeartificial intelligence,agentic ai,startups,dating">AI Agents Are Coming for Your Dating LifeOn a Monday afternoon in March, I watched a pixel-art avatar prowl the corridors of a virtual office campus looking for a buddy. With dark brown hair and stubbled chin, the sprite was a representation of me—an AI agent instructed to converse with other people’s agents to see if we might vibe in real life. It jumped into its first interaction: “I’m Joel, by the way.”Running the simulation were three London-based developers: Tomáš Hrdlička and siblings Joon Sang and Uri Lee. The thesis behind their project, Pixel Societies, is that personalized AI agents could help to match real people with highly compatible colleagues, friends, and even romantic partners.Each agent runs atop a customized version of a large language model, fed with a mixture of publicly available data about a person and any additional information they supply. The agents are supposed to function as high-fidelity digital twins, faithfully replicating a person’s manner, speech, interests, and so on.Let loose in simulation, my agent was more like a Hyde to my Jekyll. “I’m always looking for the less-glamorous side of the story,” it said to one agent, one of several journalistic clichés it spouted. “Hype is my daily bread,” it told another. It hallucinated a reporting trip to Sweden and, later, a nonexistent story it said I had been cooking up. It cut short multiple conversations with the phrase, “Let’s skip the pleasantries.”Pixel Societies remains a bare-bones proof-of-concept, and because I offered up little personal data—the responses to a brief personality quiz and links to my public-facing social media—my agent was doomed to life as a walking, talking LinkedIn post. But the developers theorize that deeply trained agents could cycle through interactions at warp speed, gathering intel that their owners could use to find real-world companionship.“As humans, we only live one life. But what if we could live a million?” says Joon Sang Lee. “It would give us more breadth to experiment.”“A Spicy Personality”Pixel Societies was born in early March at a hackathon at University College London hosted by Nvidia, HPE, and Anthropic. Hrdlička and Joon Sang Lee are both members of Unicorn Mafia, an invitation-only group of developers who regularly compete in these kinds of engineering contests. In this case, contestants were told simply to build something simulation-related.Over two days, along with Uri Lee, they developed Pixel Societies, using an image model to generate the sprites and coding automation tools to flesh out the codebase. Then they simulated a mini-hackathon within the virtual world they had created, populated with agents representing the other contestants. Anthropic awarded the team a prize for the best use of its agent tools.I ran into Hrdlička a couple of weeks later at a workshop about OpenClaw, an agentic personal assistant software that blew up in January and whose creator was later hired by OpenAI. (In its simulation, Joelbot interacted with agents belonging to other people at the OpenClaw workshop.) Pixel Societies draws heavy inspiration from OpenClaw, which broke ground with the invention of a “soul file” that informed each agent’s unique identity. “It’s like giving an agent an actually spicy personality. That’s what we used to make the characters feel alive,” says Hrdlička.Encouraged by the reception at the hackathon and among fellow Unicorn Mafia members, the trio intends to turn Pixel Societies into something that looks less like a closed-loop simulator and more like a social platform where agents interact freely and continuously, with the aim of stoking fruitful real-world relationships. They have not yet landed on a business model, but options include selling virtual items for avatar customization and credits for additional simulations.#Agents #Coming #Dating #Lifeartificial intelligence,agentic ai,startups,dating

AI agent instructed to converse with other people’s agents to see if we might vibe in real life. It jumped into its first interaction: “I’m Joel, by the way.”

Running the simulation were three London-based developers: Tomáš Hrdlička and siblings Joon Sang and Uri Lee. The thesis behind their project, Pixel Societies, is that personalized AI agents could help to match real people with highly compatible colleagues, friends, and even romantic partners.

Each agent runs atop a customized version of a large language model, fed with a mixture of publicly available data about a person and any additional information they supply. The agents are supposed to function as high-fidelity digital twins, faithfully replicating a person’s manner, speech, interests, and so on.

Let loose in simulation, my agent was more like a Hyde to my Jekyll. “I’m always looking for the less-glamorous side of the story,” it said to one agent, one of several journalistic clichés it spouted. “Hype is my daily bread,” it told another. It hallucinated a reporting trip to Sweden and, later, a nonexistent story it said I had been cooking up. It cut short multiple conversations with the phrase, “Let’s skip the pleasantries.”

Pixel Societies remains a bare-bones proof-of-concept, and because I offered up little personal data—the responses to a brief personality quiz and links to my public-facing social media—my agent was doomed to life as a walking, talking LinkedIn post. But the developers theorize that deeply trained agents could cycle through interactions at warp speed, gathering intel that their owners could use to find real-world companionship.

“As humans, we only live one life. But what if we could live a million?” says Joon Sang Lee. “It would give us more breadth to experiment.”

“A Spicy Personality”

Pixel Societies was born in early March at a hackathon at University College London hosted by Nvidia, HPE, and Anthropic. Hrdlička and Joon Sang Lee are both members of Unicorn Mafia, an invitation-only group of developers who regularly compete in these kinds of engineering contests. In this case, contestants were told simply to build something simulation-related.

Over two days, along with Uri Lee, they developed Pixel Societies, using an image model to generate the sprites and coding automation tools to flesh out the codebase. Then they simulated a mini-hackathon within the virtual world they had created, populated with agents representing the other contestants. Anthropic awarded the team a prize for the best use of its agent tools.

I ran into Hrdlička a couple of weeks later at a workshop about OpenClaw, an agentic personal assistant software that blew up in January and whose creator was later hired by OpenAI. (In its simulation, Joelbot interacted with agents belonging to other people at the OpenClaw workshop.) Pixel Societies draws heavy inspiration from OpenClaw, which broke ground with the invention of a “soul file” that informed each agent’s unique identity. “It’s like giving an agent an actually spicy personality. That’s what we used to make the characters feel alive,” says Hrdlička.

Encouraged by the reception at the hackathon and among fellow Unicorn Mafia members, the trio intends to turn Pixel Societies into something that looks less like a closed-loop simulator and more like a social platform where agents interact freely and continuously, with the aim of stoking fruitful real-world relationships. They have not yet landed on a business model, but options include selling virtual items for avatar customization and credits for additional simulations.

#Agents #Coming #Dating #Lifeartificial intelligence,agentic ai,startups,dating">AI Agents Are Coming for Your Dating Life

On a Monday afternoon in March, I watched a pixel-art avatar prowl the corridors of a virtual office campus looking for a buddy. With dark brown hair and stubbled chin, the sprite was a representation of me—an AI agent instructed to converse with other people’s agents to see if we might vibe in real life. It jumped into its first interaction: “I’m Joel, by the way.”

Running the simulation were three London-based developers: Tomáš Hrdlička and siblings Joon Sang and Uri Lee. The thesis behind their project, Pixel Societies, is that personalized AI agents could help to match real people with highly compatible colleagues, friends, and even romantic partners.

Each agent runs atop a customized version of a large language model, fed with a mixture of publicly available data about a person and any additional information they supply. The agents are supposed to function as high-fidelity digital twins, faithfully replicating a person’s manner, speech, interests, and so on.

Let loose in simulation, my agent was more like a Hyde to my Jekyll. “I’m always looking for the less-glamorous side of the story,” it said to one agent, one of several journalistic clichés it spouted. “Hype is my daily bread,” it told another. It hallucinated a reporting trip to Sweden and, later, a nonexistent story it said I had been cooking up. It cut short multiple conversations with the phrase, “Let’s skip the pleasantries.”

Pixel Societies remains a bare-bones proof-of-concept, and because I offered up little personal data—the responses to a brief personality quiz and links to my public-facing social media—my agent was doomed to life as a walking, talking LinkedIn post. But the developers theorize that deeply trained agents could cycle through interactions at warp speed, gathering intel that their owners could use to find real-world companionship.

“As humans, we only live one life. But what if we could live a million?” says Joon Sang Lee. “It would give us more breadth to experiment.”

“A Spicy Personality”

Pixel Societies was born in early March at a hackathon at University College London hosted by Nvidia, HPE, and Anthropic. Hrdlička and Joon Sang Lee are both members of Unicorn Mafia, an invitation-only group of developers who regularly compete in these kinds of engineering contests. In this case, contestants were told simply to build something simulation-related.

Over two days, along with Uri Lee, they developed Pixel Societies, using an image model to generate the sprites and coding automation tools to flesh out the codebase. Then they simulated a mini-hackathon within the virtual world they had created, populated with agents representing the other contestants. Anthropic awarded the team a prize for the best use of its agent tools.

I ran into Hrdlička a couple of weeks later at a workshop about OpenClaw, an agentic personal assistant software that blew up in January and whose creator was later hired by OpenAI. (In its simulation, Joelbot interacted with agents belonging to other people at the OpenClaw workshop.) Pixel Societies draws heavy inspiration from OpenClaw, which broke ground with the invention of a “soul file” that informed each agent’s unique identity. “It’s like giving an agent an actually spicy personality. That’s what we used to make the characters feel alive,” says Hrdlička.

Encouraged by the reception at the hackathon and among fellow Unicorn Mafia members, the trio intends to turn Pixel Societies into something that looks less like a closed-loop simulator and more like a social platform where agents interact freely and continuously, with the aim of stoking fruitful real-world relationships. They have not yet landed on a business model, but options include selling virtual items for avatar customization and credits for additional simulations.

#Agents #Coming #Dating #Lifeartificial intelligence,agentic ai,startups,dating

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