Bluesky’s AI Attie is the second most blocked account
▼ Summary
– Bluesky has launched an AI assistant named Attie that lets users design custom algorithms and feeds within its AT Protocol.
– The launch was met with significant user backlash, with about 125,000 users blocking Attie’s account, making it the platform’s second most-blocked account.
– Many Bluesky users, who joined as an alternative to AI-saturated platforms like X, view Attie’s launch as a betrayal of the platform’s original ethos.
– Critics also note Bluesky is prioritizing AI features over implementing basic, highly-requested functions like sending images in direct messages.
– Bluesky’s leadership argues the tool is intended to let AI serve user agency, contrasting it with AI that undermines trust and clutters networks.
The launch of an AI assistant on Bluesky has sparked a significant backlash from its community. Introduced at the ATmosphere conference, the tool named Attie is designed to let users craft custom feeds and algorithms within the AT Protocol ecosystem. User reaction, however, has been overwhelmingly negative. Open source data indicates roughly 125,000 accounts have already blocked Attie, ranking it as the second most blocked account on the entire network. With only 1,500 followers, the assistant is blocked by approximately 83 times more people than follow it.
Attie now sits behind only Vice President J. D. Vance, who has about 180,000 blocks, and has surpassed other frequently blocked accounts like the White House. This places the AI in notable company on a platform with a left-leaning user base. For many, Bluesky became a refuge from platforms like X, which they see as overrun with harmful content and pervasive AI-generated material. The arrival of an official AI tool feels to some like a fundamental betrayal of the platform’s ethos.
Further criticism has focused on Bluesky’s product roadmap. Users point out the continued absence of basic, highly-requested features such as the ability to send images via direct messages, questioning why development resources were allocated to an AI project instead. From the company’s perspective, the launch aligns with a stated philosophy about human agency. Former CEO, now CIO, Jay Graber has argued that AI should serve people, not platforms, and that the technology’s potential for good should be explored despite its risks.
Graber acknowledges the serious problems associated with AI, including environmental costs from data centers and the erosion of cultural integrity. However, she suggests tools like Attie, which starts with a single function for creating personalized custom feeds, represent a potentially positive application. For the frustrated user base, the anger is less about this specific tool’s capabilities and more about what it represents: an acceptance of AI’s inevitable encroachment into every digital space, including their chosen sanctuary.
(Source: TechCrunch)
