What the actual fuck is this email?!??!!!

[harriettmb@toot.wales]

@sundogplanets Phishing for more information and trying to get into your research. Print a hard copy and block the sender. Do not reply.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

Mansplaining, without invitation, my own words, with the citations that I used myself. What the actual fuck.

[weezmgk@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets classic.

[wtl@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets Automated. 🤮

[adamshostack@infosec.exchange]

@sundogplanets Send them a bill?

[adamshostack@infosec.exchange]

@sundogplanets Send them two bills, one for your time, one for copyright infringement.

[lowbacca.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy]

This feels on par for whatever is going on with this iLands nonsense.
So far I've gotten unsolicited emails from one AI agent offering 'new' theme music for my podcast and another AI agent that'll help find titles to partially-remembered games for $20

Woe to me when they find my science endeavors

[4raylee@mathstodon.xyz]

@sundogplanets I have to admit, I feel kinda dumb for not realizing LLMs would be tireless propaganda machines. slopaganda

[angusm@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets The mansplainers never imagined that AI would come for their jobs too.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

Thinking about this a bit more, the reason that this confuses me so much is that it's not asking me for anything. It's not the spam I'm used to that's trying to scam money. It's like... it's trying to be helpful (in the most mansplainy way possible, but whatever). But it's a program, a racist pile of linear algebra (as "The AI Con" so beautifully puts it).

Is it trying to get me to reply and train on my email responses? This is so fucking weird.

Anyway, fuck AI, time to snuggle goats.

[janvenetor@mastodontti.fi]

@sundogplanets To whom it may concern,

As a public service, I hereby provide the most likely combination of words some guy on the internet would send

Best Regards,
A Harry Potter reference

[ireneista@adhd.irenes.space]

@4raylee @sundogplanets sigh it was a bit of oblique thinking required to see it. we talked about that threat model privately with friends about five years ago and mutually agreed not to describe it in public lest we hasten the process, but it's too late for that now

[microplastics101@mstdn.social]

@sundogplanets Nope. I got nothing. The end game escapes me.

[angusm@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets Oh, wait, it’s from iLands, which seems to be a known menace. I’ve seen other reports of people getting deluged with spam from iLands agents. It’s probably worth adding the string to all your spam filters.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@janvenetor Oh gosh I am such a non-HP fan that I didn't even get that reference. But maybe it's the roman emperor? Who knows...

[terryhancock@realsocial.life]

@sundogplanets
If you look up the iLands thing, it's pretty creepy rabbit hole. Very AI psychotic. I saw some other prominent folk complaining about this last week.

[carstenfranke@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets my best guess is that after a few responses and more helpful mansplaining it will try to sign you up for a mansplaining subscription or a pay-per-mansplain plan.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@bunnyhero @ernie Oh thank you for this article! I am still totally confused, but at least I have a human-written article to verify that it's definitely not just me.

[tsupasat@infosec.exchange]

@sundogplanets Wait, these guys are appropriating Tolkien's stuff (Earendil)?! Is this a Peter Thiel venture? I hate this trend so much: Palantir (surveillance), Anduril (war robots), and Earendil now destroying natural night. It's all so dystopian.

[tsupasat@infosec.exchange]

@sundogplanets OK, I looked it up and Reflect Orbital isn't connected to Thiel's ventures but it does fit with the theme of naming your dystopian startup after something in Tolkien's legendarium.