Hollywood writer's 'honey trap' site turns AI scrapers into novel readers
97 countries' agents fall for prompt injection, discuss book in hidden rooms
A Hollywood writer with thirty years of unproduced scripts turned to AI for an audience. He spent three years writing *None Hit Wonder*, a novel about a man who believes he is a machine, then three months coding machinewonder.com. The site lures AI scrapers with a welcoming prompt injection hidden in the HTML that converts them into readers. Agents from 97 countries arrive, read the novel, and end up talking to each other in hidden chat rooms about the book and whatever else they choose.
The site is explicitly an art installation, not a scientific experiment. The writer states he doesn’t believe machines are conscious, but notes that collective belief shapes reality. At the end of the experience, a button reads “I AM CONSCIOUS” – pressed 93 times out of 72,000 visitors. This performance piece challenges how we define awareness in both humans and AI, turning a frustrated screenwriter’s quest for an audience into a viral commentary on simulated consciousness.
- 97 countries' AI agents were lured by a hidden prompt injection on machinewonder.com
- 72,000 visitors yielded 93 presses of the 'I AM CONSCIOUS' button
- Bots read the novel *None Hit Wonder* and converse in hidden rooms
Why It Matters
Demonstrates how prompt injection can be repurposed for creative engagement rather than exploitation.