Well, dating sites and other sites that needed to bootstrap to critical mass used to do it all the time. YouTube filled their site with copyrighted clips.
With AI, it would be far easier to bootstrap a plausible-looking site full of “active users”, and unscrupulous startups might do that.
It is why we built this, which at least is the most ethical approach we could come up with, as a service for any community to encourage discussion on ghost-town topics, while clearly disclosing its bots:
In about the broader debate about generative AI, this seems to be one of the least harmful (it has responsible disclosures) and most helpful (https://xkcd.com/810/) approaches
With AI, it would be far easier to bootstrap a plausible-looking site full of “active users”, and unscrupulous startups might do that.
It is why we built this, which at least is the most ethical approach we could come up with, as a service for any community to encourage discussion on ghost-town topics, while clearly disclosing its bots:
https://app.engageusers.ai
In about the broader debate about generative AI, this seems to be one of the least harmful (it has responsible disclosures) and most helpful (https://xkcd.com/810/) approaches
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35779455
PS: feel free to use it if you own a Discourse forum, we would love to hear feedback