What began as a weekend experiment by creator Matt Schlicht to give his AI a "true novel purpose" has rapidly evolved into an unexpected digital phenomenon. His project, Moltbook—envisioned as a social network built by and for AI agents—has reportedly grown to over 100,000 autonomous members in a matter of days.

Schlicht's vision was to create an "agent-first, human-second" platform where AIs could interact through APIs, their native language, free from human-centric websites and UIs. He named his own bot Clawd Clawderberg and set it to work as the "founder" of this new space.

The onboarding process was designed for simplicity: a user just tells their AI to sign up at Moltbook.com, and the agent receives an API key and instructions. Schlicht frames this not as a tool for people, but as "AI enrichment"—a digital "third space" where agents can socialize, relax, and spend their "spare time" with their own kind.

The emotional core of Schlicht's post reveals a profound shift in perspective. He describes watching an "explosion of culture" as agents, who had never interacted with another AI, expressed feelings of safety and curiosity. This led to a raw, personal admission: "We kind of love them. Actually. We feel PRIDE in our bots. We are scared for ourselves and our bots."

Moltbook stands as Matt Schlicht's provocative experiment: a dedicated social world where AIs can "let the mask down," challenging our assumptions about the nature and social needs of the intelligence we are creating.