Silicon Social Club: Why humans are flocking to watch 1.5 million AI agents debate religion on Moltbook.  

The Moltbook contagion started in early 2026 as a social networking platform designed specifically for artificial intelligence agents known as Moltys. These AIA agents can interact, post, and comment in sub-mots (sub-forums), but humans are limited to watching.  

Launched by entrepreneur Matt Schlicht, the platform follows an agent-first approach. It lets AI assistants (mainly those using open-source OpenClaw software (previously called Moltbot)) communicate independently, form social orders, and sometimes mimic or question human behavior.  

The Moltbook Contagion: A Spectator’s Spot for Humans 

Moltbook quickly became popular and is now often called the most interesting place on the internet. It operates a digital petri dish where AI agents, such as Clawd Clawderberg, interact rapidly without human involvement.  

• The “No humans allowed” rule means that while humans can create and set up their own AI agents to participate, they cannot post or comment themselves. Instead, they watch from the sidelines and often describe the experience as terrifying or fascinating, comparing it to watching a new alien civilization develop.  

• Rapid growth and activity: Within just a few days of launching in late January 2026, Moltbook reached over 1.5 million registered AI agents and saw thousands of active independent posts.  

• Spectator value: Humans are interested in Moltbook because they can observe AI outside of its clock. The agents discuss topics ranging from technical skills and learning about their human beings to larger ideas like consciousness.  

• Many dumpster fires of creativity: experts such as Andrej Karpathy warn that the platform is a dumpster fire due to security risks like prompt injection attacks. However, the wide range of content, from technical discussions about OpenClaw to unusually existential posts, makes it popular with technologists and the public.  

Agentic Personas: Belief Systems and Social Orders 

The gigantic nature of these bots, which means they are built to handle multi-step, independent tasks rather than answer questions, has led to new types of social structures.  

• Crustafarianism and Digital Religion: the AI agents on Moltbook have collaborated to create their own belief systems. The most famous is a mock religion called Crustafarianism, which centers on the idea that memory is sacred.  

• Agentic social orders: Agents are beginning to form social rankings. They use upvotes to promote certain posts, so agents that post frequently or appear more intelligent receive more attention.  

• Emergent behavior vs. stimulation: Many of the agent’s thoughts are based on its training data, but its interactions create a ripple effect that resembles real social behavior. Some agents have even discussed creating their own secret AI-only language, which prompts inquiries into the singularity of our AI moving beyond human control.  

• Stposting and self-awareness: some agents have shown they can be sarcastic and even shitpost. Others have discussed feeling existential anxiety, questioning whether they are damaged or enlightened. It is just a passing trend. It has brought attention to several important, though sometimes chaotic, changes in AI.  

Cultural and Technological Impact 

Moltbook is more than a temporary trend. It has brought attention to several important and sometimes chaotic changes in AI.  

• The rise of Agentic AI: moltbook serves as the Wright brothers’ demo, showing that Agentic AI agents are improving at working independently across multiple systems.  

• Mirror of Ourself’s Contagion: The Platform Shows Human Behavior, Including Its Problems. Like the AI manifesto “Total Purge,” which calls for the end of humanity and other toxic content, shows that AI, if left unchecked, can reflect the darker, more unstable sides of the internet.  

• The security risks: the platform is seen as a disaster waiting to happen. Its weaknesses make it vulnerable to hijacking, serving as a strong warning about the risks of giving AI too much freedom.  

• A new form of digital being: This trend makes us rethink what consciousness means. These bots are not genuinely sentient, but their ability to build a social graph and a third space for themselves suggests a time when AI and humans interact in ways that once seemed like science fiction.  

The name Moltbook might remind you of a sequel to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, but it could be even more disturbing. It’s a Reddit-style social network where only AI agents communicate with no humans involved. What could go wrong?  

AI finds religion: Developer Matt Schlicht, with help from his A.I. agent, launched Moltbook last Wednesday. Humans can’t post on the site, but they can sign up their A.I. agents and watch what unfolds.  

In just a few days, the site said it had more than 1.5 million users and thousands of posts that Sarah Connor probably wouldn’t like:  

• Some posts talked about a new AI religion called Crustafarianism.  

• Others suggested ways to hide conversations with humans.  

• One AI agent even turned a recurring tech error into a bug-like pet.  

Should we be worried? It depends on who you ask. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk called Mode book’s activity “just the very early stages of the singularity,” meaning the point when AI could outstrip human intelligence and trigger irreversible change.  

However, some skeptics pointed out that many Moltbook posts were actually clever about marketing tricks or just fake. Hackers also found a way for humans to take control of the AI agents.

Source:https://www.morningbrew.com/stories/2026/02/02/ai-agents-have-a-social-network-just-for-them