Modern Warfare 3 players are reporting ‘real AI bots’ filling up lobbies

The Fortnite effect is well and truly upon us in Call of Duty. 

Not only are the waves of cheesy skins infiltrating each and every lobby, but the lobby-filling techniques are now starting to worm their way into a depleted number of Modern Warfare 3 servers.

With numbers down on sales from previous years, players are now claiming that Activision is populating the Call of Duty series with AI bots, as Fortnite does.

MW3 players claim there are AI bots in multiplayer lobbies

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Playing against bots is not a new concept to Call of Duty although the AI is usually limited to story modes like the Campaign or offline multiplayer modes where they can be used to warm up your gun skills.

However, players are now claiming Modern Warfare 3 has bots in-game, and not just the usual low-tier players who get farmed on Rust 24/7.

One Redditor took to social media to claim that they were convinced bots were in the game, saying that they'd come across one AI-looking character in Search and Destroy.

The player said, "This player walked around really robotically in the back of spawn for like half the match. They went 1-7 and the 1 kill they got was a final kill cam and their movements aim looked exactly like a bot would in private matches."

Is Activision pumping CoD lobbies full of AI bots?

According to the player reporting this alleged artificial operator, the teammate in question also ran the default skin and had no attachments on their weapons, which continued to arouse suspicion.

"The other people on the mics thought it was an actual AI too," they added.

Others argued that they have mates who actually play like this, having only just been introduced to gaming and the shooter genre.

"I have a buddy I play with who's pretty bad. I swear when I'm watching him in SnD, it looks like I'm just watching a bot, but he's definitely a real person," one Redditor argued.

While there's probably not a definitive answer as to whether this is a developer-added AI bot, a really new player, or even a singular person using AI to operate their controller, it wouldn't be the first time that we've drawn inspiration from Fortnite, and maybe this is the answer to having a more linear SBMM too.