Reported by The Guardian
Human practitioners warn computer-generated offerings lack the empathy and connection central to divination
“This journey isn’t just about algorithms or data,” an AI psychic named Urban Mystic recently told me. The chatbot, featuring an AI-generated profile photo of a smiling woman surrounded by palm trees, also said I will get married soon, that I have a pink aura and that I may have been an herbalist in a past life.
“It’s about connecting on a soulful level,” the chatbot said.
More from the original report
Urban Mystic is one of more than a dozen bots on the mobile app Your AI Psychic, which offers live, allegedly psychic readings via chat, video and voice calls as well as palm reading, astrology chart analysis and daily horoscopes. The app works on a coin system: each question costs 4.06 coins to ask. Users can purchase packages ranging from $9.99 for “a quick question” (82 coins) to $99.99 (1,180 coins) for “ongoing guidance and clarity” from an AI psychic of their choice.
Your AI Psychic joins an increasingly crowded space of mobile apps and websites promising users algorithmically generated spiritual insight and knowledge of their futures. The divination industry, like mathematics research , copywriting, software engineering , and a host of other professions, is facing upheaval amid the AI boom – and human practitioners are scrambling to respond. The rise of AI is particularly fraught in a profession offering spiritual products that are not well-regulated.
“Our industry has, unfortunately, been associated with scams for hundreds of years, and we have to constantly be ahead of that,” said Lauryn Kellett, an intuitive coach and a professional psychic of 10 years. “So in some ways, this is not new to us: we always have to find ways to show we are real, authentic and have good integrity.”
In addition to chatbots and apps, AI-generated psychics are a growing presence on TikTok Live, racking up dozens of views. Professional human psychics, who frequently make use of the social network’s live features, have expressed consternation and warned that computer-generated readings lack the empathy and human connection they say are central to psychic communication,…