Twitter’s been ablaze with drama as the platform suspended the account of the quirky AI bot known as “Explain This Bob,” all thanks to a punchy ‘scam crypto’ claim by none other than the Tesla titan himself, Elon Musk.
In the blink of an eye, Musk declared, “This sure looks like a scam crypto account. If so, it will be suspended,” in response to one of the bot’s tweets. And guess what? Twitter took action, pulling the plug on Bob in record time.
So, who or what was this bot, and why did it catch Elon’s skeptical eye? “Explain This Bob” was no ordinary program. Powered by OpenAI’s cutting-edge GPT-4, this multimodal model had the ability to analyze tweets and respond with witty, often comedic, summaries. No wonder it went viral and became the talk of Twitter town back in April. Even Musk himself couldn’t resist chiming in with an “I love bob” endorsement.
The plot thickened when Elon Musk found himself engaging with the bot multiple times, once hailing its accuracy in a political discussion as recently as June. But things took a darker turn for “Explain This Bob” and its froggy counterpart, “@AskTheWassie,” after Musk issued a warning against scam promotions disguised as helpful bots. As a result, both bots faced the wrath of the suspension hammer.
Adding to the mystery, “Explain This Bob” was in cahoots with the ERC-20 meme coin, Bob Token (BOB), launched around the same time. However, Bob Token’s fate hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows since its bot buddy’s suspension. CoinGecko data reveals the token’s value plummeted by approximately 13% over the past day, currently hovering at a measly $0.00001901.
With the crypto community voicing their support for Bob, they’ve rallied behind the hashtag “FREEBOB,” sharing a meme of Musk overseeing a desolate Bob in prison. Even notable crypto influencer @CryptoDefiLord jumped on the bandwagon, declaring it as the one meme project they truly appreciated.
But let’s not forget that Musk’s move comes on the heels of the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) singling out major social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube, accusing them of enabling scams in the digital assets realm. The watchdog criticized these platforms for maintaining lax policies, providing scammers easy access to unsuspecting teenagers.
So, while “Explain This Bob” may be silenced for now, the crypto community’s battle cry for its resurrection continues. As the dust settles, one can’t help but wonder if Elon will provide further clarity in the days to come. Until then, Twitter remains a lively battleground for bots, scams, and everything crypto.