The internet is flooding with AI-generated content, and one of the few places where humans can still go and chat with other humans is Reddit.
Unfortunately, a new marketing automation startup called Astral wants to change that and bring LinkedIn-level marketing results to the discussion board site, according to startup founder Savannah Feder. Publish videos on X Thursday demonstrated how to use an AI agent in a browser window. Her tool can navigate through Reddit and automatically write comments promoting anything a marketer might be trying to sell.
The same applies to other computing agents. which was recently demonstrated by the likes of anthropology and GoogleAstral can take over the local browser and complete tasks by first capturing screenshots of web pages and analyzing them using AI to see what to do next based on prompts. It then finally sends commands back to the mouse. “Watch how Astral finds the right place to click,” Feder said as the bot began logging into Reddit. “It was actually amazing to see how it How do you navigate the site like humans do?” The video continues to show how the bot navigates the /r/productmanagement subreddit. Find posts about “User research” and then “Write answers that promote the product without sounding too salesy.”
The dream for these bots is that they will help Grandma navigate her computer by herself. It's not about creating marketing automation spam bots that flood social media. Of course, this is why so many people despise AI: It's used by the worst people you know.
Announcement Astral – AI marketer working 24/7 to grow your startup.
Astral explores websites, creates content, and does social marketing.
Watch Astral automaton Reddit in real time: pic.twitter.com/XbpKt0lZqd
– Savannah (@SavannahFeder) January 9, 2025
This should be further evidence that AI is about to create a sea of undifferentiated blandness and bland content as far as the eye can see. Anyone who has spent enough time on LinkedIn or In this, for example, being proud to pee in someone's pool.
What's most discouraging is that the people who create tools like Astral seem to believe that AI and humans are truly interchangeable. And that machine will be much better than it was before.
Incredibly, after someone asked Feder why Astral uses a local browser-based AI agent instead of the Reddit API, she explained that it was because Reddit and other social media sites restricted the use of their API for the task. Automatic There's a reason for this: because it's spammy and annoying. She also excitedly explained to another person that the bot had successfully bypassed the CAPTCHA.
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit Reply to post with a GIF of Patrick from SpongeBob start to cry
It will be interesting to see how platforms like Reddit implement anti-bot measures to combat sloppiness.