That’s bugged me so much too because there would be in depth replies like crazy detailed but then the OP won’t ever reply back 
Sometimes I think they work for shady brokers. Or whatever product it is they’re trying to shill. Idk why they’d start threads though, makes no sense,
Have you heard of GPT3? I’ve often wondered if who I’m talking to online (including here) is actually GPT3-written.
No, first I’ve heard of GPT3. Thanks for the heads up. Always good to read up on what’s happening in these spaces.
My ex-workplace was in the process of adopting IBM Watson (corporate AI solution) a while back but that’s the most I know of any AI solutions.
I think a lot of this is/was COVID related. Lots of new accounts, the user wants to get involved, asks a question, the further they get into learning they realized it’s not an easy lotto ticket sized win. They go bye bye.
Many use cases for it. I’m already seeing AI powered newsletters, news articles etc. But, I’m not sure what benefit an online forum-replying bot would have. 
Thought I’d update this in the interest of transparency.
Got messaged from the mods a few days back saying that their investigation concluded the actions of the accounts could be attributed to real human beings. Specifically:
What we’ve observed are actions and system indicators that support these accounts as being real human beings. The accounts are asking questions, engaging directly with other specific messages, referencing and making unique thoughts in relation to statement made by others, and actually interacting with the forums platform at a level that we think would be extremely difficult for a bot to do - direct replies, likes, actually reading, etc…
I replied with an excerpt of an exchange that didn’t appear human on my part. But I’m no expert in AI behavior nor do I have the resources to do the kind of full fledged investigation to prove/disprove anything beyond reasonable doubt.
I’ve decided I’ll challenge any bot like opinions I find, in a civil manner, and ask to explain their POV further. If there are humans at the end of these accounts they should be able to express themselves better than the canned responses I’ve personally seen so far.
Not as much time as I have wasted as a project manager talking to subject matter experts who I wished were bots (coz the bots would have more knowledge)
I’ve seen that around. But I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and misjudge. However, if it quacks like duck…
but at least you had a reason to talk to them and had something sensible to say to them. I have neither! 
Exactly!
From a forum’s point of view quantity is more important than quality, at least up to a certain extent. Provided it does not infringe any rules or degrade the overall reputation of the forum it only improves its visibility and income.
Is it just me… Or do these names all have a similar ring to them… Oh… and time and dates??
Not a good look…
So true - I recently discovered the Tess and Jo threads, among others. Brilliant!
I’ve been sending my suspicions of bots to @Pipstradamus. Without trying to overburden this great mod, please PM this mod with the link to threads you believe may have bot participants. Some are more obvious than others. I just replied to one then thought - hang on a minute - even a newbie would not say that, so I appended it with bot, bot, bot bot bot
