I won’t name it ChatGPTarot
But damn, I’m tempted.
Over the past few months, I’ve been doing a lot of work with AI and ChatGPT’s APIs — mostly in my day job trying to build a great pitch deck review tool.
The thing is, I learn best by building, and I’ve built a number of small (and big) tools just as prototypes. One of the things I built was a tarot reader.
And then, at the recent Baukunst creative technologist conference, the firm announced it would have ‘magic’ as its upcoming themes — Previous themes include Mycelium and AI and CAD — so I knew I had to develop this idea further.
At first, it was a bit of an art project, honestly, exploring how ChatGPT intersects with magic. Over time, I started getting feedback that people were getting life-changing insights and incredible accuracy and wisdom. Yes, really.
Look, I don’t know what to tell you. I believe there is power in magic in general, and in tarot specifically. Jotform, some Python, ChatGPT, Google Documents, Google Sheets all wired up with some Zapier monstrosity can’t replace the intuition and the depth of wisdom that lives in a 600-year old tradition of divination.
But then again — perhaps part of divination is pattern recognition, and that’s something ChatGPT is eerily good at.
Here’s an example: The reading to the question “I am feeling exhausted, but there’s an opportunity to meet a really interesting person tonight who knows a lot about the tarot. Should I rally, or should I give in to the impulse to rest?”
For this reading, the AI pulled The Hanged Man, Two of Cups, and The Fool reversed, answering the questions ‘what do I need to remember,’ ‘what do I need to forget,’ and ‘what happens next.’
Listen to it, it’s pretty impressive, concluding that ‘And so, dear Haje, the cards seem to suggest that rest, reflection, and conserving your energy may be the higher path tonight.’
Very astute.
What are people saying?
Can I try it out?
Yes you can! I’ve been running a small beta of it for a while. You can get a free reading (They are queued, and it runs one every couple of hours), or you can pay to be nudged to the front of the queue. Here’s the link you need.
When you submit your question, you get an audio file in return (which is your reading) — but the reading itself will also be in the body of the email, if you prefer to read, rather than listen, to your divinations.
Enjoy!
