HN is now heavily astroturfed or overrun by bots (or, alternately, low-quality posters now indistinguishable from the previous), and this is especially so in AI-related threads.

One tell is that most comments barely exceed one or two sentences (because otherwise AI detection gets easier and much more reliable), when this was not as much the case many years ago. The drive-by comments are also low / zero quality, mostly expressing a feeling or agreement/disagreement, and primarily driven by ideology or pre-existing beliefs and commitments.

Look at non-AI-related threads and you'll notice a large distribution shift relative to AI-related ones.

EDIT: Basically HN is orange Plebbit now. If you doubt this, compare HN discussions to those on e.g. lobste.rs, LessWrong, The Motte, DSL, ACX, or other old obscure forums. You'll notice those places have their own very serious biases and problems, but it is obvious the vast majority of posters are nevertheless human and making some minimal efforts.

Now compare Reddit and 2026 HN to the above, and see if you can confidently say the same.