Sam Altman, a prominent figure in Silicon Valley, OpenAI chief, X enthusiast, and a major shareholder in Reddit, admitted on Monday that he’s no longer sure if anything he reads on social platforms is written by actual humans.

The epiphany came while he was scrolling through r/Claudecode, a subreddit dedicated to Anthropic’s Claude Code, per Tech Crunch. The forum has recently been flooded with posts by self-proclaimed users claiming they had abandoned Claude Code for OpenAI’s rival service, Codex, which launched in May. The surge was so pronounced that one user joked: “Is it possible to switch to Codex without posting a topic on Reddit?”

For Altman, the posts raised a deeper question: are these genuine testimonials or orchestrated noise? Writing on X, he confessed: “I have had the strangest experience reading this: I assume it’s all fake/bots, even though in this case I know Codex growth is really strong and the trend here is real.”

Altman then began dissecting his own thought process live for his followers. He pointed to a mix of phenomena: humans adopting quirks of LLM-generated speech, “extremely online” communities mimicking one another in cycles of hype and backlash, platforms optimizing for engagement at all costs, creator monetization incentives warping discussion, and the ever-present risk of astroturfing—when companies or their proxies secretly flood platforms with posts to simulate grassroots support.

“And a bunch more (including probably some bots),” he added.

The irony, of course, is unavoidable. LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT models were designed to mimic human communication and were trained on Reddit posts, among other sources. Altman himself sat on Reddit’s board until 2022 and was disclosed as a large shareholder when the company went public last year. In effect, the human-sounding bots Altman now complains about were born, in part, from the very ecosystems he helped build.

The dynamic he describes isn’t entirely new. Online fandoms have long been prone to herd behavior, where communities can swing rapidly from praise to hostility. Altman’s own company saw this after the rollout of GPT 5.0. Instead of celebration, Reddit and X were filled with complaints about everything from GPT’s “personality” to its tendency to burn through credits without finishing tasks. The backlash forced Altman into a Reddit Ask Me Anything session on r/GPT, where he admitted to rollout issues and promised improvements. Yet the subreddit has never fully regained its prior enthusiasm, and to this day, posts critical of GPT 5.0 continue to dominate.

Whether those posts are human-authored or machine-generated is beside the point, Altman suggested—the experience of online discourse now feels fake.

“The net effect is somehow AI Twitter/AI Reddit feels very fake in a way it really didn’t a year or two ago,” he wrote.

The broader numbers lend weight to his concern. According to data security firm Imperva, more than half of all internet traffic in 2024 was generated by non-humans, largely bots and LLM-driven systems. On X, Elon Musk’s in-house chatbot Grok estimates there are now “hundreds of millions of bots” roaming the platform.

For critics, Altman’s lament is ironic not just because OpenAI popularized the tools that accelerated the bot flood, but also because it may foreshadow his next move. Reports earlier this year suggested OpenAI is quietly exploring its own social media platform, a potential rival to X and Facebook. Altman’s musings about the “fakeness” of current platforms, some argue, may double as early-stage marketing for whatever project is—or isn’t—on the drawing board.

That raises an uncomfortable question: if OpenAI did launch a social network, could it really be bot-free? The evidence suggests otherwise. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam once built a social network populated entirely by bots. Within weeks, the bots had splintered into cliques, formed echo chambers, and began reinforcing each other’s views—behavior indistinguishable from human communities online.

A Longer History of Manipulation

What Altman is observing has deep historical roots. Well before the rise of generative AI, bots were deployed to manipulate online debates. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, foreign-linked bot networks amplified divisive narratives on Facebook and Twitter, reaching millions of Americans with disinformation. Similarly, stock market “pump-and-dump” schemes in the late 2010s often relied on Twitter bots and fake Reddit accounts to create the illusion of investor hype before insiders cashed out.

Even seemingly trivial online disputes were often shaped by automated activity. For example, investigations into trending hashtags—from sports fandoms to political protests—have repeatedly found that coordinated bot activity helped push topics to the top of feeds, giving fringe issues outsized visibility.

The difference now is scale and sophistication. Whereas old bot armies relied on crude scripts that posted repetitive or clunky messages, today’s LLM-driven bots can write in fluent, natural language, mimicking human cadence so closely that even tech leaders like Altman struggle to tell the difference. With AI, the cost of running massive astroturfing campaigns has plummeted, while the reach has multiplied. Experts warn that the coming years will see an explosion of bot manipulation, far more seamless and pervasive than anything the internet has previously experienced.

Altman’s reflection, then, is not just about the here and now—it’s a recognition that social media has always been vulnerable to manipulation, but that generative AI has brought us to a tipping point where the line between organic and artificial discourse is all but erased.

Apple today took the wraps off its iPhone 17 lineup at its “awe-dropping” event, marking one of the most significant updates in recent years for its mainstream model.

The company pushed the boundaries of design and in-house engineering, while continuing its move away from legacy features like physical SIM cards.

The base iPhone 17 now ships with a 6.3-inch display, a step up from the iPhone 16’s 6.1-inch screen. For the first time, Apple’s ProMotion display—previously exclusive to premium models—has made its way into the standard iPhone. The panel supports a 120Hz refresh rate, powered by LTPO technology that dynamically adjusts refresh speeds depending on use, helping balance smooth visuals with power efficiency.

Brightness has also been boosted, with peak levels hitting 3,000 nits, giving users improved legibility outdoors. These upgrades come in a redesigned chassis that is just 5.5mm thick, though the ultra-slim build left no room for a physical SIM tray.

Apple defended its eSIM-only approach during the keynote: “We pioneered eSIM years ago, and now it’s an industry standard. Compared to that decades-old piece of plastic, eSIM is so much easier to use, has better security, and saves precious space inside the iPhone. eSIM is also great for travel.”

Apple’s removal of the physical SIM tray follows its earlier U.S. shift and is consistent with Apple’s pitch that eSIM is more secure, space-saving and travel-friendly. But global eSIM adoption is uneven.

In some markets eSIM is mainstream and carriers support provisioning smoothly; in others, carriers remain slow to enable full eSIM workflows, limiting consumer options. Analysts and telecom writers note that many carriers have been cautious—restricting eSIM to secondary devices, delaying full launches, or making the experience harder than it needs to be.

India is a growth market for eSIM, but still shows friction: adoption and carrier support are improving, yet regulatory and operator readiness vary by region. Europe broadly supports eSIM, but operator policies and roaming/business models mean rollout speed differs across countries and carriers. These frictions mean an eSIM-only phone can be seamless in some countries and more awkward in others.

Apple Goes In-House On Chip

Perhaps the most pivotal reveal was the debut of the N1 wireless networking chip, Apple’s first homegrown Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and smart home silicon. Replacing Broadcom components, the N1 chip enables support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and the Thread protocol, with Apple promising stronger AirDrop reliability and faster Personal Hotspot connections.

Joining the N1 is Apple’s C1X 5G modem, a successor to last year’s C1, delivering double the speeds of the previous generation. Together, the N1 and C1X deepen Apple’s strategy of bringing more chipmaking in-house, a playbook it has already applied to the A-series iPhone processors, Mac’s M-series, Apple Watch silicon, and AirPods chips.

The iPhone 17 itself is powered by the new 3nm A19 Bionic chip, complete with a redesigned display engine to support the upgraded ProMotion panel.

This approach has parallels across big smartphone makers:

• Google has been building its own Tensor family (most recently the Tensor G5), designed to run on-device AI and power Pixel-specific features. Google’s in-house SoC work has accelerated in recent years to embed Gemini/AI features tightly into Pixel phones.
• Samsung develops Exynos chips for some markets and continues to invest in its own silicon capabilities (even while using Qualcomm chips in other regions). Samsung’s Exynos program and recent rumours about future generations show the same strategic impulse: control core IP and optimize devices end-to-end.

Camera Upgrades

Photography sees its own leap forward. The rear setup now includes a 48MP ultrawide sensor with improved macro performance and 2x optical telephoto support. Up front, Apple introduced an 18MP “square” sensor, designed to capture selfies in multiple aspect ratios without rotating the device. It also supports Center Stage for calls, ensuring users stay in frame during video chats.

Pricing, Colors, and Availability

The iPhone 17 will be available in lavender, mist blue, black, white, and sage. Apple raised the base storage to 256GB, eliminating the 128GB entry point. With the change, the starting price is $799—identical to a comparably specced iPhone 16, though slightly higher than last year’s 128GB base model, which began at $699.

Pre-orders open this Friday, with general availability starting September 19.

Apple’s latest release arrives amid intensifying competition in the premium smartphone market, where rivals like Samsung and Google have been pushing AI-driven features and foldable designs. Apple’s emphasis this year on display technology, camera innovation, and in-house silicon illustrates its focus on tighter ecosystem control and efficiency, even as it phases out traditional features like physical SIM cards.