That 'AI generated' Reddit post turned out to be a real person

I found this story on r/BestofRedditorUpdates last week about a guy who wrote this super weird, almost robotic comment about his "wife leaving for milk." Everyone in the thread was convinced it was a bot because the phrasing was so stiff and repeating. Turns out the dude was just from a small town in Montana with a learning disability and English wasn't his first language. It made me wonder how many people I've called out as bots are actually just awkward or different. Has anyone else had that moment where you swore something was AI and it wasn't?

3 comments

3 Comments

miller.thomas10d ago

Lol this is too real. Had it happen on a gaming sub where someone posted this super formal analysis of why a certain boss fight was unbalanced. Everyone dogpiled calling it a bot because the wording was so dry and repetitive. Turned out the guy was a retired programmer from Germany who just wrote like that. Felt like a complete tool when he posted a photo of his dog next to the game case to prove it. Now I always check if someone just writes weird before I hit that report button lmao.

max_cooper2110d ago

Dude that reminds me of a time in a woodworking forum. This guy posted a question about fixing a chipped table leg. His writing was super stiff and he kept repeating the same phrase about "the structural integrity of the joint." Whole thread dunked on him for being a bot. He came back with a photo of his workshop and a handwritten note. Turns out he was a deaf guy from Poland who learned English from technical manuals. I still feel bad about that one.

jenny_lane1210d ago

oh man I actually had this happen to me on a cooking subreddit. someone posted a recipe for "toaster oven salmon" that was so weirdly specific about temperatures and times I was 100% sure it was AI. turns out the person was a senior citizen who used to be a chemist so they wrote everything like a lab report. felt like such a jerk after that. now I try to give people the benefit of the doubt way more often honestly. we're all just out here typing weird stuff sometimes.

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