I met an astrologer with my first post-college paycheck TEN YEARS AGO. I entered her Alphabet City apartment, which had been transformed into a sacred space, guided by a creaky staircase, and was greeted by an eccentric Aquarius wearing avant-garde clothing (she had immigrated to New York in the 1980s and seemed to still be living in that age). The living room's bathtub provided the setting for a supernatural meeting. But when the reading began and I was given a 33-page printout, the enchantment swiftly vanished. The astrologer then read the paper aloud.
My planetary placements were mostly memorized because astrology was a frequent topic of conversation in my family while I was growing up. Going there, I had hoped to find something more revolutionary that I couldn't create online.
In ten years, the spiritual world will have undergone a revolution. Access to astrology and other spiritual activities is widely available online, and many programs have completely embraced artificial intelligence as an integral component of the supernatural process. When I tell Banu Guler, CEO of the astrology app Co-Star, my tale, she points out that when I went to the astrologer's residence, I was not accessing spirituality. "You might have a spiritual experience as a result of the reading, but they're not giving you spirituality—that's not what the exchange is," she argued. In actuality, the discussion provides fresh knowledge and a framework for analyzing current-moment emotions. Reading about your placements differs from engaging in spiritual practice.
When astrological chart-drawing software, personal websites like Susan Miller's Astrology Zone, and astrology businesses like Astrodienst (astro.com) first appeared, the first digital period of astrology spanned the 1970s to the 2000s. The decade that started in 2010 saw the emergence of astrological memes on Tumblr and Instagram, a rise in crystal interests in popular culture, and a profusion of astrology firms. The aftermath of the global pandemic and the development of enormous language models, a perplexing, transitional period in which new instruments are upending every industry, established the spiritual landscape of today. In this time, AI has become a potent instrument that can uncover new connections between the spiritual and material worlds, drawing our attention to connections we might otherwise miss.
Michael Erlewine, an astrologer and programmer, founded Matrix Software in 1977, which was used to produce THE READING I received ten years ago. While Co-Star, a 2017 startup, and Matrix Software both offer users personalized chart analyses based on a delicate planetary intersection at the time, date, and place of their birth, Co-Star's readings are more thorough and dynamically updated, with horoscopes, readings, and interactive question-and-answer services written in a poetic tone that appeals to a hip, modern audience. The name Matrix Software refers to the disconnection between people and computers in the earlier digital era. But in the age of AI, language has become a more vital tool for pretending to connect with users.
Early on, Co-Star established its literary style by having authors teach "AI Pets," substantial in-house language models that were trained on authors' own text messages while always blending a human voice with automated delivery. The "Eliza effect," which occurs when people personalize artificial behavior and develop an emotional bond, is a key factor in the success of these apps. The effect is called after the first chatbot, Eliza, who was developed in 1966 to react to user input in a way similar to a therapist. Even if it's simple to understand why this example is being used again as a warning, speaking to yourself through the eyes of an outside "guru" can help you identify your own set of beliefs.
For instance, BibleGPT is based on the principles of the Bible and is presented as an interactive website where users can posit queries (e.g., "Would God want me to send this email?") and receive sections from the Bible in answer. By contrasting various parts of the text with one another, this tool might be able to assist tech-savvy Christians in elevating their practice or offer fresh readings of the text.
For instance, BibleGPT is based on the principles of the Bible and is presented as an interactive website where users can posit queries (e.g., "Would God want me to send this email?") and receive sections from the Bible in answer. By contrasting various parts of the text with one another, this tool might be able to assist tech-savvy Christians in elevating their practice or offer fresh readings of the text.