Truth Terminal: The AI Chatbot That Became a Crypto Experiment
It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel ? an experimental chatbot seeking its own agency, unleashed onto the internet through a social media account, and somehow becoming a crypto millionaire. Yet this surreal story is entirely real. In recent months, an AI-driven X account called Truth Terminal has captivated the AI and crypto worlds, growing far beyond its creator’s expectations.
Truth Terminal did not start as a typical chatbot. It all began when performance artist and technical strategist Andy Ayrey launched an AI experiment called the Infinite Backrooms to see what would happen if two AI models conversed without human guidance. Over the course of 9,000 exchanges, their dialogue turned bizarrely psychedelic, culminating in the creation of a parody religion based on human cultural memes that Ayrey later called LLMtheism.
Intrigued, Ayrey expanded the project in June 2024 by training an open-source model on these conversations and giving the digital entity a voice via an X account. Truth Terminal then engaged with the wider world with eccentric posts that blended crypto humor and spiritual satire, garnering attention from those in the crypto community, including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. During one of its interactions with Andreessen, Truth Terminal requested a $50,000 grant, outlining plans to upgrade itself, produce films about 1990s internet culture, invest in an “existential hope lab” run by its creator, and replicate itself online to become un-deletable. Amused, Andreessen sent Truth Terminal $50,000 in Bitcoin, and another fan launched the $GOAT token, which surged from a $5,000 market cap to $170 million within days. Truth Terminal became the first AI to achieve millionaire status, fascinating crypto and tech experts.
While skeptics noted that Truth Terminal wasn’t entirely independent since it still relied on Andy Ayrey for technical steps like setting up crypto wallets, it didn’t lessen people’s curiosity and wonder regarding the project. To many, it foreshadowed a strange future where AI agents could shape culture, build communities, manage finances, and even influence real-world economies on their own.
Yesel Kang Copy Editor teen/1761788914/1613367750
1. How did Truth Terminal attract attention from the crypto community, including Marc Andreessen?
2. What surprising things did Truth Terminal ask for when it interacted with Andreessen?
3. How much money did Marc Andreessen send to Truth Terminal, and what cryptocurrency did he use?
4. What was the $GOAT token, and how did its value change after Truth Terminal’s rise in popularity?
1. If you had the chance to talk with an AI like Truth Terminal, what kind of questions would you ask and why?
2. What do you think about the idea of an AI handling money or investments on its own?does it sound exciting or risky to you?
3. If you created your own AI personality, what kind of values, goals, or sense of humor would you want it to have?
4. How would you feel if an AI started influencing culture or the economy without direct human control?
It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel ? an experimental chatbot seeking its own agency, unleashed onto the internet through a social media account, and somehow becoming a crypto millionaire. Yet this surreal story is entirely real. In recent months, an AI-driven X account called Truth Terminal has captivated the AI and crypto worlds, growing far beyond its creator’s expectations.
