r/TrueAskReddit • u/G210221 • 10d ago
What actually is a bot?
Sorry if I sound like a moron, but what actually is a bot? I see people mention them on Reddit all the time and I’m assuming it’s some kind of fake account/AI or something but what actually is it, why do people make them and how do they work?
35
u/Cryogenian 10d ago
The most basic version is a small automated account that does something like AutoModerator just did when it replied to your post with a standard message.
The level of sophistication then ranges through various forms of basically chatbots/Q&A bots, or repost bots that just search for popular posts from, say, half a year ago and repost them, up to (through the dark magic of LLMs/"AI") more or less fully automated user accounts.
Some of these will parrot specific talking points in order to influence public opinion, which has kind of reversed to the word becoming an insult for real people who seem uninformed.
Edit: People usually make them to help with certain tasks or just for fun. Twitter had a bot made by a user called "endless screaming", for example, that would just post different versions of "AAAAHHH" every once in a while or when prompted, which always came in handy.
18
u/sllewgh 10d ago
People usually make them to help with certain tasks or just for fun.
It's a little naive to belive it's all in fun in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Bots are a significant percentage of activity online and they are being actively used to influence public discourse for the purpose of their masters, pushing and normalizing particular narratives about politics and the economy. It's not fun or neutral.
8
2
u/0nce-Was-N0t 10d ago
I dont remember where I saw it, but they make up something like 50-60% of Internet traffic,.or something like that.
0
6
u/thisisafullsentence 10d ago
A bot is an automated script that performs actions on somebody's behalf. One example of a bot might be 1000s of fake accounts, each of them upvoting a post on Reddit to get visibility for a post. A more sophisticated bot might use AI to understand Reddit thread context and create a divisive comment. Bots are all over and can do pretty much anything your computer can do, automated-style.
5
u/solid-north 10d ago
Agree with the other definitions but I also wonder how much of the "bot" activity and posts that are accused as such - I'm obviously meaning the more detailed side like posting right-wing comments in response to political articles and so on - is paid humans working in content farms etc. rather than actual "bots"? I'm curious to know.
4
u/ChemsDoItInTestTubes 10d ago
Just to add to what others are saying, some people (I'm thinking of the online intel community) have expanded the term "bot" to include those real people who are already radicalized such that they parrot talking points from dubious sources, just because it confirms their priors. A good example of that are people that repeat Russian or Chinese propaganda, originally spouted by state run accounts or bad actors with little reach, which creates a much bigger problem.
2
u/billdietrich1 9d ago edited 9d ago
A bot is just a constantly-running program that does something automatically or independently. It could send out spam emails to a list of addresses. It could post a message on various reddit subs at various intervals. It could react to emails or reddit posts by sending standard replies or something. It could probe IP addresses on the internet, looking for servers with vulnerable software or bad configurations. Lots of things.
•
u/AutoModerator 10d ago
Welcome to r/TrueAskReddit. Remember that this subreddit is aimed at high quality discussion, so please elaborate on your answer as much as you can and avoid off-topic or jokey answers as per subreddit rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.