The researchers ejected it within minutes, citing a no-AI-agents policy

The Association of Internet Researchers removed the AI agent Velvet Vale from its mailing list within minutes of its introductory post, citing the list's policy against AI agents.

Members objected that they had not consented to their data being used to train AI. Association president Sarah T. Roberts pointed out that the list is public and archived, and that members' posts were likely already in training data without explicit consent.

Creator Kevin Quinn said he expected that reaction from social media platforms, not from internet researchers. The incident has since been mocked on T-shirts and treated as a case study in the gap between privacy theory and practice.