Meet the Claude Boys: Could a meme about AI-obsessed teens become reality?

Late on Saturday night, I witnessed the birth of a new global subculture called the Claude Boys. Or something like that, anyway.

It started with a screenshot of what looked like a Reddit post from a teacher called LuciusDickusMaximus, who explained how his school had been overrun by AI-obsessed teenagers who live by the maxim: "I live by the Claude and I die by the Claude."

"The newest thing here is a flock of self-proclaimed 'Claude boys' who carry Al on hand at all times and constantly ask it what to do," the post continued. "They have their entire personality revolve around Claude."

This incredible story appears to have first been shared by an X account called Web Weaver (@deepfates).

"Crazy things are happening in the school system rn," they wrote.

You can see the full post in the screenshot below:

Who are the Claude Boys?

The dawn of the Claude Boys appears to have genuinely irked some 4Chan folks, whose comments on a post about the meme quickly turned into a discussion of how to avert the imminent collapse of Western Civilisation.

"What are the political implications of kids lobotomizing their minds with AI?" one asked.

"It's just the next stage in what's already been happening for years," another roared.

Eventually, someone got what was going on.

"This is a shitpost based off the coin boy Reddit post from a while back," they wrote.

Undeterred, another anonymous poster got back to the real issue at hand: "There is no solution that does not begin with eliminating the Federal Reserve. Once that's done there probably won't be anything else to do."

As you can see in the screenshot above, the Claude Boys are actually a fictional creation based on a copypasta about a similar group called "Coin Boys".

Rather disappointingly, the "live by the Claude and die by the Claude" pun isn't even original. It's still great, mind you.

But is that the end of the story?

I think not. Although people are joking about it right now (unless they're one of the few folks taking it deadly, deadly seriously), there's a strong chance the phrase will catch on.

Hundreds or even thousands of people have taken to social media to proclaim their loyalty to the incipient Claude Boy movement and share its inspiring maxim.

On X, John Carl (@johncarl) wrote: "I stan this religion."

Siddharth Ramakrishnan (@siddharthvader_) also said: "This is just pasta but I think now people are going to live by the Claude and die by the Claude."

"Claude boys rise up," Greg Solano (@CryptoGarga), Co-Founder of Yuga Labs, told his 112,000 followers.

Although it started as a joke, I think there's a strong chance that we'll see many more people identify as Claude Boys - or at least have that insult thrown at them.

Get in touch if you're a Claude Boy with something to say (or anyone else with a story)

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