> Thanks for the honesty.

It's impossible to tell if this is AI or not. Another version of Poe's law. The only thing to do is assume everything is AI, just like you must assume all posts have ulterior (generalluy profit-driven) motives, all posters have a conflict of interest, etc.

Maybe the only thing to do is stop trying to understand posters' motivations, stop reading things charitably, stop responding, just look for things that are interesting (and be sure to check sources).

Reader, keep in mind that OP being "a real person" has nothing to do with whether their content is appropriate for HN.

Every spammer and scammer, even a bot, is ultimately controlled by a real person in some sense. That doesn't mean we want their content here.

people are hurt because something which defined them as a person can now be done by a machine; don't let them dissuade you