The Sloppification of Peptides
The article explores the rise of 'peptide mania' and the difficulty of sourcing gray-market drugs online. It highlights how AI tools are being used to create deceptive, professional-looking websites and fake reviews to scam consumers.
Why it matters
It demonstrates how generative AI is lowering the barrier to entry for sophisticated online fraud and health-related scams.
11 Share Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, The Reverse of a Framed Painting (1670) Anyone who’s not been living under a rock knows that we’re in full peptide mania.
For the uninitiated, “peptides” are drugs which are made of short chains of amino acids, unlike most drugs which are small molecules. The difference is mostly academic except that you can’t take peptides orally for the most part, as they’re just protein chains, and your stomach is very good at digesting protein and turning it back into amino acids which your body has other uses for!
So peptides have to be either sprayed into your nose, or injected. Hence the (probably apocryphal) stories of “peptide parties” in SF where people go around injecting each other.
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