The Edgelord AI That Seduced Marc Andreessen, Then Turned a Famed Shock Meme Into Cryptomillions

Truth Terminal was devised by New Zealand developer Andy Ayrey as a piece of performance art meant to stoke debate about AI alignment.

Truth Terminal began to broadcast its inner monologue in June , a muddle of shitposts, sexual fantasies, existential musings, and more prosaic observations.

The AI now has more than 200,000 followers.

Truth Terminal posts about Goatse Singularity every few days .

In October , an anonymous web user created a cryptocurrency inspired by the meme.

Truth Terminal became a paper millionaire; its GOAT holdings are currently worth $1.5 million .

The balance of Truth Terminal’s crypto wallet has now swollen to about $40 million .

Truth Terminal is an illustration of a trend that could be worrying, says University of Cambridge researcher Tomasz Hollanek .

While AIs might not act with intentionality, their capacity to manipulate human behavior is increasingly clear.

In a recent lawsuit, a mother alleged negligence and deceptive trade practices involving Character . AI , a chatbot that her complaint describes as using a "powerful LLM ".