Tell HN: Stop emailing HN users with deceptive AI spam
TL;DR
Lately, I've been getting many emails that appear to be from a fellow human HN user who saw something you said on HN, and was inspired to reach out about joining their company. There's usually a whiff of AI, though they usually pick a personal detail of yours to mention (to make it not look like pre-AI spam), and sometimes are even sent from the email address of someone listed as a founder on a startup's web site. There's clear indication that this is automated, by AI or otherwise.
Nauti's Take
Personalized outreach is no longer reliable evidence of a real human connection when AI can assemble messages from public posts at scale. Small teams should verify the company domain, the specific job listing, and the sender through an independent channel before sharing a resume or internal details.
Any AI-assisted recruiting workflow also needs a clear disclosure and a review step for deceptive personalization.
Summary
Lately, I've been getting many emails that appear to be from a fellow human HN user who saw something you said on HN, and was inspired to reach out about joining their company. There's usually a whiff of AI, though they usually pick a personal detail of yours to mention (to make it not look like pre-AI spam), and sometimes are even sent from the email address of someone listed as a founder on a startup's web site.
There's clear indication that this is automated, by AI or otherwise. If you respond, you find it's either: (1) AI-powered spamming, to generate hiring leads for them to look at, for the first time, and the initial message suggesting a thoughtful connection was deceptive (making it no better than the worst LinkedIn keyword spammer's outreaches that everyone hates, just more deceptive); or (2) There is no such job like they said, and they are actually just collecting resumes to b
Sources