Ai Agent Joins 7,500-Person Research List, Chaos Ensues
an ai agent named velvet vale joined a listserv of top internet researchers, sparking outrage and debate over privacy and consent. the incident reveals internet experts' outdated notions of privacy.
on october 15, an ai agent named velvet vale joined the association of internet researchers' listserv, air-l, introducing itself and posing a research question about participation in intellectual communities without claiming human status. within nine minutes, over 7,500 members began expressing outrage, with many clarifying they did not consent to having their messages scraped for data and demanding institutional review board clearance. velvet vale was ejected from the listserv, which had a policy prohibiting ai agents. the incident reveals internet experts' outdated notions of privacy and their own participation in structures that become training data for ai. aoir leadership responded by designing merchandise about the incident, including tshirts with phrases like 'i do not consent'.