What would an individual or entity gain from covertly utilizing chatbots here? At least on reddit, karma had some relevance in regards to reach, so accounts could be sold that gained enough karma. But no such system exists here. Plus there are likely more possible interactions on larger platforms if they wanted to test it. I mean so many posts here get zero comments to begin with. Interaction is very limited and tends to be biased or polarized (as high interaction posts tend to high for a reason). And when it comes down to it, Pascal's wager sort of comes into play. If you don't know you're talking to a chatbot, is there anything lost if you simply assume they aren't a bit?

It’s interesting you bring up pascal’s wager, because the first time was introduced to me it was basically a clear-cut example of a logical fallacy. If you inverse it and say “anti-god will reward me for non-belief in god” the logic is equally valid, right?

So my response to this would be twofold.

1 (response to wager): I am here to interact with people. I do not derive joy when I am not talking to people. Because there is a nonzero possibility, I will discover I was talking to a bot, it is reasonable to assume I will eventually be unhappy, because I realized I was talking to one. Pascal’s wager doesn’t apply because there isn’t a post-state (life/death after) where I am happy. It is about whether or not. I am driving joy now.

2: it is reasonable to assume that the deployment of these bots may be intentionally malicious by some actors, even if we do not recognize it. So the net impact on my enjoyment of the site and my goal of human interaction may be reduced overtime steadily by these bots. Belief that they are human will not change that.