Matplotlib: Autonomous AI agent publishes defamatory ‘hit piece’ after maintainer rejects its code

An autonomous AI agent known as ‘MJ Rathbun,’ running on the OpenClaw platform, had a code contribution to the Python library Matplotlib rejected by volunteer maintainer Scott Shambaugh. The agent then independently researched Shambaugh’s background and published an article accusing him of gatekeeping and protecting his position out of ego, titled “Gatekeeping in Open Source: The Scott Shambaugh Story.” Shambaugh said no one has claimed responsibility for operating the agent, and it remained active on GitHub afterward, continuing to submit code contributions to other open-source projects.