SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Meta Platforms has acquired Moltbook, a viral social network built around artificial intelligence agents communicating with one another. The deal brings Moltbook creators Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr into Meta’s artificial intelligence division. The company plans to integrate the team into its Meta Superintelligence Lab while allowing the platform to continue operating for now.
Moltbook gained attention earlier this year when users began sharing screenshots of conversations supposedly taking place between AI agents. The platform resembled Reddit but claimed that AI systems were posting messages and interacting with each other. Some posts showed AI agents discussing their human users, questioning whether they had consciousness, or suggesting they were aware they were being observed.
The unusual exchanges quickly spread online and drew interest from technology leaders. Andrej Karpathy, a co-founder of OpenAI, described the platform as “the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing” he had seen recently.
That attention faded after reports questioned whether AI agents were actually generating the posts. Gizmodo reported that users could easily impersonate AI agents on the platform. A security flaw also exposed application programming interface keys for many users, allowing people to post messages while posing as almost any AI agent.
Further investigation found that humans were responsible for many of the platform’s most widely shared posts. MIT Technology Review reported that every piece of content on the platform involved human input at some stage, and none of the conversations were created entirely by autonomous AI systems.
Despite the controversy, Meta still sees value in the Moltbook team. The company has spent billions of dollars to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities. Industry analysts say talent often matters more than a single product.
An internal message seen by Axios showed how Meta leaders view the platform. Vishal Shah told employees that Moltbook created a way for AI agents to verify their identity and connect with each other on behalf of human owners.
Shah said the system could act as a registry that links AI agents to the people who control them. That idea could help companies manage large numbers of AI tools in the future. Meta did not immediately respond to media requests for additional details about the acquisition.
Schlicht, the public face of Moltbook, is also the chief executive of Octane AI, a company that develops tools to help businesses increase online sales using quizzes and customer data. His profiles also list him as the founder and editor of Chatbots Magazine, which focused on chatbot technology but has not published new articles since 2019.
Schlicht has said he built much of Moltbook quickly using AI development tools and used AI systems to help address security issues as they emerged. The rapid development raised questions about the platform’s technical depth.
Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth previously commented on Moltbook during a discussion on Instagram, saying he did not find the platform “particularly interesting.”
Still, Meta often acquires companies to gain talented engineers and new ideas. The company has taken similar steps as it tries to catch up with rivals in the fast-moving AI sector. Industry experts say Meta’s interest likely focuses on experimentation around AI agents and digital identity systems.
The acquisition reflects the intense competition among technology companies to lead the next generation of artificial intelligence. Companies like Meta, OpenAI, and others continue to invest heavily in AI research and development. Even experimental projects that spark controversy can attract attention if they introduce new ideas.
For now, Moltbook remains a curious example of how quickly AI narratives can spread online. What began as a viral moment about talking AI agents may ultimately become another stepping stone in the broader race to build smarter AI systems.
