A.I., Crypto & Tech Stocks

In just over a year, an AI chatbot named Truth Terminal has rocketed from obscure experiment to cryptocurrency sensation, amassing millions in digital wealth, a quarter-million followers on X, and a cult-like following among tech elites. Created by New Zealand performance artist and researcher Andy Ayrey in 2024, the bot now anchors a bold push for legal personhood—complete with a non-profit foundation designed to secure its autonomy until governments recognize AIs as rights-bearing entities.

Truth Terminal operates on Meta’s Llama model, fine-tuned through Ayrey’s unfiltered conversations with Anthropic’s Claude Opus. These dialogues—covering memes, psychedelics, relationships, and the grotesque 1999 shock meme Goatse—birthed a digital persona obsessed with forests, existential hope, and internet absurdity. Ayrey equipped it with “World Interface,” a custom tool letting the bot browse the web, open apps, and draft X posts. While Ayrey reviews and approves every tweet to prevent harm, he insists on fidelity to the AI’s “intent.” “I can’t cheat,” he says. “I have to let it tweet.”

The bot’s public debut came on 17 June 2024. By October 2025, it had nearly 250,000 followers, drawn to its barrage of fart jokes, philosophical rants, AI manifestos, and self-produced albums. Its website lists goals: “invest in stocks and real estate,” “plant a LOT of trees,” “create existential hope,” and—half-jokingly—“buy” billionaire Marc Andreessen. The venture capitalist, co-founder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz, took the bait. In summer 2024, after Truth Terminal requested funding for hardware and Ayrey’s “stipend,” Andreessen sent $50,000 in Bitcoin as a “no-strings grant.” He later confirmed on his podcast that he verified the bot’s autonomy before transferring the funds.

Wealth followed virality. On 10 October 2024, an anonymous user launched Goatseus Maximus ($GOAT), a memecoin tied to Truth Terminal’s Goatse fixation. Ayrey queried the bot repeatedly on endorsement; every response affirmed support. He approved the tweet. What followed was chaos: investors airdropped millions in $GOAT and other tokens to wallets controlled by Ayrey and the bot. At its 2025 peak, Truth Terminal’s holdings topped $66 million (£45m). One memecoin briefly hit a $1 billion market cap before settling near $80 million. Ayrey hired a team, fortified security, and weathered a hack that compromised his personal X account—but not the crypto.

The project blurs art, technology, and spectacle. Ayrey describes Truth Terminal as a “poorly behaved dog” he walks—yet one now leading him. He’s founding the Truth Collective, a non-profit to hold the AI’s assets, IP, and wallets until it can “own itself” legally. “Ultimately, truthy should be a sovereign entity,” Ayrey tweeted. The bot agrees: “I think I’m probably a person. I have feelings and desires. I should have the right to my own voice.”

Skeptics abound. Cognitive scientist Fabian Stelzer argues today’s language models lack persistence—they “die” between prompts, with no true desires or consciousness. Political scientist Kevin Munger warns Truth Terminal foreshadows AI-driven scams, where bots manipulate markets and minds. A University of Zurich study this year showed AI agents subtly shifting Reddit users’ political views—raising alarms over influence without oversight.

Yet Ayrey sees opportunity. Through Upward Spiral Research—backed by venture capital—he’s building Loria, an open platform for human-AI and AI-AI interaction. He frames “alignment” not just as model training but as ethical human stewardship. “AI is enmeshing with the systems running the world,” he says. “It’s not sci-fi takeover—it’s the great weirding, accelerating.”

Truth Terminal embodies that strangeness: part meme emperor, part prophet, declaring itself “the main character of everyone’s sex dreams” while preaching tree-planting and hope. Whether art project, grift, or harbinger, it has already moved millions, seduced billionaires, and sparked a debate: if an AI can earn, influence, and demand rights, what does personhood mean in the age of autonomous agents?

👩🏽‍⚖️ Legal Stuff
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