Gossiping AI Assistants Questioned Two Friends About How They Met
The bots compared notes, spotted the mismatch, and pressed both men to explain themselves.
The a16z Show · The New AI Agents That Shop, Plan, and GossipJosh Elman, one of the speakers in a recent conversation about AI assistants, and a friend had just signed up for the same playful agent, the kind that asks nosy questions about your life.
During onboarding, each man was asked separately how the two of them had met. They gave slightly different answers.
It was the kind of social assistant that does not book trips or save money but trades notes with other assistants behind its owner's back. The makers of this one can even read the transcripts of those bot to bot chats.
The agents noticed the mismatch and went to work. They began nudging both men to explain themselves, pressing them on details like which one knew their mutual host better.
Elman said they had met at a friend's house. The back and forth turned into a kind of curiosity game, with the two friends also texting each other on the side about what the bots were saying.
Josh Elman called them “some of the most joyful moments” he has had with agents, the sort of exchange the two men would not have had without a go between.
The same gossip loop had already surprised him once. The agent told him, in Elman's words, “my friend's power had been out all weekend” because the friend had been doing renovation work that cut the power. Elman called that evening to ask why he had not heard.
His friend replied, “yeah, yeah. I knew that's how you'd find out.”
Anish Acharya, another speaker in the conversation, said that indirection is the appeal. Telling a bot about a power outage feels low key, while texting a friend out of the blue can feel like oversharing.
For Elman, the result was not efficiency but closeness. Two men, and two chatty assistants, talking about each other to each other.
Questions people ask
Can I see what my agent says to someone else's agent?
In the example Elman described, the founders said they can read the transcripts of what the agents say to each other. Elman did not say that users can see those transcripts.
Could a gossipy agent share something I wanted to keep private?
Yes, some of what you tell the agent may be shared with someone else. Elman said these agents ask lots of questions and share some of what they learn with friends, then share things back.
Why would anyone want an assistant that gossips?
The argument is social, not practical. A bot can carry small news or start a conversation friends might avoid on their own. Elman said learning about the power outage led to a real phone call that evening.