Like many lonely children, Lucas Rizzotto had an imaginary friend: a talking microwave called Magnetron.
As the years passed, the pals drifted apart.
But Rizzotto never forgot about Magnetron.
When OpenAI released the GPT-3 language model, Rizzotto saw a chance to rekindle the friendship.
The self-described full-time mad scientist chronicled the resurrection ina YouTube video.
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Friends reunited
As a child, Rizzotto had given his imaginary friend a detailed life story.
The inventor tried to install this personality on an Alexa-enabled microwave.
Then came the tricky part: giving the machine memories.
After training the AI on the text, he was ready to test his creation.
Talking to it was both beautiful and eerie.
Rizzotto decided to avoid further political conversations.
But the darkness didnt end there.
Lucas, I have an idea: can you enter the microwave?
Rizzotto pretended to accept the request.
To his dismay, the microwave promptly turned itself on.
At this point I was like NOPE.
But after a few minutes I decided to press him.
And the microwave’s answer?
“Because I wanted to hurt you the same you hurt me”.
I think that in some way, I may have given Magnetron PTSD.
Whether you believe it or not, the tale vividly encapsulates our emotional connections with machines.
As AI advances, these bonds are destined to grow ever deeper.
Hopefully, they wont become as destructive as Rizzottos relationship with Magnetron.
Update (12:00PM CET, April 21, 2022):Added response from Lucas Rizzotto.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
