763 - Have you chatted with a bot?

Whenever someone wants to connect with me, I check their profile first.

People who use fake photos or no profile photo at all immediately raise red flags.

But I have this curious side that sometimes prompts me to go ahead and connect.

I connected with someone for a few minutes yesterday that made no attempt to hide their fakeness.

Their picture was fake, the profile was all about AI.

I connected because I was curious.

At first, there was the usual banter, "Hi, nice to meet you", except...it was too normal. Canned, if you will.

Then I learned that bots have a sense of humor.

I asked, "Are you real or a bot?"

"She" answered, "Both. I'm a real bot."

I had to laugh. Come on, that's funny.

Then I asked more detailed questions and was told I was talking to a real person at that point.

They step in when the conversation when the bot can't answer.

However, what made me decide to block this contact was that their intentions were very one-sided.

They had no interest in getting to know who I am or what I do. It was all about their network.

They are going to waste all our time building their own networks while giving nothing in return.

No thanks. I have better things to do and I don't want to expose my network to them.

Don't connect with people for the sake of connecting, or to grow your network.

The person you connect with may not have your best interests at heart.

Why? Because they are not real.

Soon they will appear so real, we won't know when we aren't talking to a real person.

Have you chatted with a bot, as far as you know?