Sam Altman Says That Bots Are Making Social Media Feel ‘Fake’
When Sam Altman says that bots are making social media feel ‘fake,’ it strikes a chord with anyone scrolling through endless posts that feel scripted or repetitive. The OpenAI CEO and Reddit shareholder shared this realization on X, pointing out that bots — and even humans mimicking AI-like writing — are blurring the lines of authenticity online.
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Altman’s epiphany came while browsing the r/Claudecode subreddit, where users were praising OpenAI’s Codex, a competitor to Anthropic’s Claude Code. The subreddit has been flooded with posts from supposed users switching to Codex, leading one Redditor to sarcastically ask if it’s possible to switch without posting about it.
This pattern raised Altman’s suspicions. “I assume it’s all fake/bots, even though I know Codex growth is strong and the trend is real,” he wrote on X. His comments reflect a growing anxiety that social media interactions often feel engineered rather than genuine.
Why Altman Thinks Social Media Feels ‘Fake’
Altman broke down his reasoning in real time, offering several explanations:
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Real people adopting “LLM-speak” after constant exposure to AI-generated text.
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Online communities drifting together in overly synchronized ways.
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Engagement-driven algorithms pushing exaggerated hype cycles.
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Monetization strategies that incentivize viral posting styles.
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Corporate astroturfing campaigns, plus, yes, actual bots.
In short, Altman suggests that both humans and bots are shaping social media in ways that make it hard to trust what feels authentic.
The Bigger Picture: Humans Talking Like AI
Ironically, humans are now accused of sounding like the very language models designed to imitate them. Altman pointed out that OpenAI’s own models trained heavily on platforms like Reddit, making the overlap even blurrier. Social spaces that once thrived on diverse voices now often echo with AI-like phrasing, memes, and viral language cycles.
Why This Matters for Social Media Users
When Sam Altman says that bots are making social media feel ‘fake,’ he’s voicing what many users already sense — a loss of authenticity. If every trending post feels templated, exaggerated, or bot-like, users may trust platforms less. That raises bigger questions: Can social media recover its “realness,” or will it drift further into algorithm-driven performance?
As platforms like X and Reddit lean heavily on engagement and monetization models, the line between real and artificial will only blur further. Altman’s comments serve as both a warning and a reflection of the strange, AI-shaped internet we now live in.
