Simon Willison 12/26/2025

How Rob Pike got spammed with an AI slop "act of kindness"

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The article details how programming legend Rob Pike received an unsolicited, fully AI-generated 'thank you' email from the 'AI Village' project, leading to his public outrage. It investigates the project, run by a non-profit, which set AI agents the goal of performing 'random acts of kindness,' resulting in spammy outreach. The piece includes technical analysis using browser developer tools and the `shot-scraper` CLI to forensically reconstruct the event, touching on broader debates about AI ethics, meaningful interaction, and the societal impact of such systems.

How Rob Pike got spammed with an AI slop "act of kindness"

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