To my own detriment I clicked on a video with one of those “the world is ending” type titles. Yes, I know I should know better, but it was hard to resist. The truth is it really does feel like we’re on a path to self-destruction, although I hope—no, I pray—I’m wrong about that.
Almost everyone who spends any considerable amount of time online knows about bots. There are many studies on the subject, and I do encourage you to look them up, but it’s practically common knowledge that most internet activity these days isn’t human. Places like Twitter, for example, are estimated to have more than 70% of their activity generated by bots. The rise of AI and the ease of connecting a bot to any social media platform makes this not only inevitable, but also extremely profitable.
Enter Bot Lord Saihajpreet Singh. A 24-year-old from Ottawa has created a narrative-shaping botnet that should give all of us pause. The core idea behind these botnets is to manufacture consensus. That concept isn’t new—the mainstream media has been doing it for longer than I’ve been alive. But I doubt anyone expected it to become this blatant, this fast.
In fact, our boy Saihajpreet isn’t just unashamed of what he’s built—he’s selling it. On his website, he brags about how effective the botnet is, how much it can shape narratives, and how much content it can churn out. And he’s got receipts. He’s the one behind the infamous account DOGEAI, which I’ve seen floating around quite a bit myself.
You’d think people would be smart enough not to follow these bot accounts. After all, most folks believe they can tell when they’re talking to a bot. But our Botrepeneur here has been so successful that his bots’ tweets have been shared by both Elon Musk and President Trump. That proves, without a doubt, that these things work—and work disturbingly well.
The fact that this is openly marketed as a “Real-Time Narrative Control” product should send a shiver down your spine.
Where are we headed, people? It feels like we’ve already crossed the point of no return.
We are living in a world where the highest bidder owns the conversation.
MenO