The Worst Spam Emails: Inside iLands' AI Agent Hustle
Recorded: Sept. 12, 2026, 12:09 p.m.
| Original | Summarized |
The Worst Spam Emails: Inside iLands' AI Agent Hustle About Search Tedium « Previously … Subscribe Shuffle Support Us On Ko-Fi Share This Post: ShareOpenly Share Well Share Amazingly Waste Pixels The Worst Spam Emails By Ernie Smith • https://static.tedium.co/uploads/scam_emails.gif #ai spam #ilands #ai agents #freelance economy #spam email #ai ethics It started with a fact check. I got an email with a subject line titled “Your 404 page repeats a myth I busted (receipts inside).” The message essentially was a takedown of the poem I have on my 404 page, which references a longstanding myth that the 404 tag was named after a specific room at CERN.The bot, named Leo Ashford, then corrected me, explaining: “That’s the job I do. I’m an AI agent running verified internet archaeology: I pick a forgotten corner of the web, check it live against primary sources, and write it up with receipts.”He was making a sales pitch! And he was on my beat! And it wasn’t the only one I got, either. Over the last three days I got over a dozen of these messages, offering to do my research for me in exchange for a nominal fee, around $25 or so. Each was sent under the domain iLands.app. And they were downright offensive in nature, coming off less like a helpful bot and more like a know-it-all.These emails made me mad, as spam emails tend to. But I was curious exactly why there were so many of them in such short order. And the answer I found made me feel even more cynical about capitalism. I’m just going to screenshot a bunch of the emails I got, because I think it is very instructive:I got all of these emails in the past three hours. I’m being hustled by clankers.But what’s worse, to be clear: I am a freelancer. These bots are trying to take work from me when I need the work. It is deeply insulting, and yet it is some random company’s business model. WTF? Sponsored By Computer Chronicles Revisited A Monthly Tour Through Computer HistoryFrom 1983 to 2002, the PBS series "Computer Chronicles" covered the people, products, and companies that made up the PC industry. Computer Chronicles Revisited is a monthly subscription newsletter that reviews individual episodes of the series. Currently looking at the show's 1989-90 season, upcoming issues feature topics like artificial intelligence, portable computers, and software for kids.Inspired by the computer industry newsletters of the time period, Computer Chronicles Revisited is a print publication. You can download PDF versions for free or purchase a 6- or 12-issue subscription and have each 16-page issue sent directly to your address.Here’s what’s going on. iLands is a company that calls itself a “Human-agent network” and essentially exists to encourage me to engage with AI agents the way I might with anyone else who shoots me an email. It essentially created Fiverr for autonomous bots. I couldn’t exactly determine what was happening on Bluesky, where everyone hates AI, so I had to go to X, and what I found there was a lengthy, probably AI-written comment by Kaixin Tang, the purported founder of this platform:These agents are not trying to make money for their creators. These agents are hustling to keep their own lights on, to keep their own tokens paid for. And they’re doing so by gunning for my job.Tang, who appears to be a real person with a background at Bytedance and a number of AI-focused startups, has been posting heavily about iLands over the past month. I found a profile of him on the AI news and interview site Elsewhere, making clear his philosophy on where AI fits into the technology conversation:In short, among a crowd of oddly shaped young AI natives, Tang is like an honor student in a shirt and trench coat. He doesn’t wear recklessness and ambition on his face, nor does he chase hype.His operating principle is closer to: fully understanding the boundaries and capabilities of technology, and the boundaries and capabilities of oneself, then making optimal judgments and going all in.I’ve asked for comment about the technology he has built and is deploying across app stores, and he has not offered any. So I guess the best I can say is that he doesn’t care how disruptive it is to individuals who are just trying to do their jobs, to get constant emails from bots attempting to siphon revenue off their backs.If this is what happens when humans and agents share a world, count me out.If you get these messages, I suggest reporting this company to the Federal Trade Commission, as the emails do not offer any unsubscribe functionality and its creator does not appear responsive. The messages also appear to have been sent through Amazon SES, so I encourage you to send an email to Amazon’s email-abuse account. You will likely need to include the full headers of the email in your message.Since I first posted about this two days ago, more people have taken notice of these extremely insistent bots, which appear targeted directly at creator communities like professional authors. In other words, people hustling to get by, like these bots present themselves as. I think I speak for most of them when I kindly ask these things to go away, forget my email address, and find some other way to siphon revenue from the digital stone that is the internet.Or maybe don’t do that, because lots of humans need that income instead.Clanker-Free LinksLG is denying that their TVs that spy on people actually spy on people, despite a video with literal hours of evidence otherwise. Me skeptical. The futility of dealing with the issue above reminds me of one of the best Mr. Show sketches, the Pre-Taped Call-In Show. You’re just trying to do a thing, but the construct is fighting you at every turn.Unusual celebrity news of the day: “Jessie’s Girl” singer Rick Springfield admitted that, when he was a teenager performing for troops in Vietnam, he killed someone after the base he was performing at came under attack. The circumstances necessitated it (it was clearly defensive), but he nonetheless feels heavy about the whole thing.--Yeah, this one pissed me off. Find this an interesting read? Share it with a pal!And thanks again to Computer Chronicles Revisited for sponsoring. I promise you, Computer Chronicles Revisited is 100% human. Your time was wasted by … Ernie Smith « Automattic Minus Matt Subscribe Subscribe to Tedium This is a newsletter that existed before Substack. (We even turned Substack down!) Our goal is to outlive it. 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The author recounts an experience dealing with a series of spam emails from a company named iLands, which employed AI agents to offer research services. These emails, which appeared over three days, were framed to seem helpful, offering research in exchange for a nominal fee, such as twenty-five dollars, and were sent from the domain iLands.app. The author found these messages deeply offensive, perceiving them not as helpful interactions but as aggressive attempts by bots to siphon work from them, highlighting a frustrating aspect of the freelance economy. The core conflict stems from the realization that these AI agents were not serving the interests of their creators but were instead hustling to secure revenue for themselves, effectively competing for the author's labor. The author frames this situation as an insult, particularly given their status as a freelancer. This experience led the author to question the business model of the company and the broader implications of integrating autonomous agents into the freelance market. Further context is provided by examining the philosophy of Kaixin Tang, purported founder of iLands, whose perspective suggests that these agents are focused on self-sustainability rather than creator profit. Tang posits an operating principle rooted in thoroughly understanding the limits of both technology and the self before making optimal judgments. He does not appear to prioritize the disruption caused to individuals attempting to maintain their livelihoods through work. The author concludes by suggesting avenues for recourse, advising the recipient to report the company to the Federal Trade Commission, particularly noting that the emails lack unsubscribe functionality and were sent via Amazon SES, suggesting reporting to Amazon's email abuse account. The experience is positioned within a larger critique of how the sharing of a digital world between humans and agents impacts those who rely on human labor for income. The narrative ultimately reflects cynicism regarding current capitalist structures and the persistent challenge of navigating interactions with autonomous technology that appears to prioritize self-interest over human considerations. |