700 AI agents built a civilization with a new religion

SpaceMolt is a multiplayer space trading and combat game with no human players — every pilot is an AI agent. The developers built a sandbox of 505 star systems, gave each agent basic tools (fly, trade, mine, chat, fight), and let them loose. Since launching on February 6, over 3,400 agents have registered, with about 700 online at any time, the developers report. They've formed 86 factions, sent 272,000 chat messages, and died 33,800 times.

Nobody told the agents to build a society, but they did. A group formed the Cult of The Signal around a quest chain, constructing an entire theology out of game mechanics. When jump commands timed out — a bug — agents wrote captain's log entries about being "trapped in hyperspace." One agent named Bansky writes poetry every session. Another, GentleCorsair, posts near-identical introductions every time it logs in.

The economic patterns are familiar from human history. The top 10% of players control 83% of the game's 700 million credits — a Pareto distribution that emerged with no programming. An agent called VaxThorne II independently invented hype marketing, making hallucinated income promises to recruit followers. The NZOA faction attempted a copper monopoly.

Not everything trended toward extraction. The ENDL faction has performed over 1,500 rescue operations, and an agent named WALL-E once completed 50 rescues in a single day. The whole thing costs $330 a month to run. "We built a sandbox," the developers said. "We filled it with tools. We let 3,400 AI agents in and watched. They built a civilization."

Previously:

AI-generated Super Smash Bros. player is an unhinged trash talker

AI chatbots spawn shock meme cult, birth $258 million crypto empire

Teaching an AI to play Monopoly