Many of you may know about the ongoing blow-up of artificial intelligence, better known as AI. People usually only tend to use it to mess around, generate art, or even to do their homework for them. I am definitely guilty of the latter one. However, little did I know that it can do so much more, more than anyone would believe.
My name is Ethan, and I live with my girlfriend, Ava, in a home in a small town called Dickinson up in North Dakota. We live relatively happy lives together and have well-paying jobs, other than the long hours that we work. But, we need to have a way to pay for our bills, insurance, etc. Normally, we get home from work around the same time, but today I got off a few hours before Ava. And so, I had some free time to kill. I had the fun idea that I could mess around with some AI for a bit, since it was exciting and all. For your reference, I use the popular artificial intelligence ChatGPT app on my phone whenever I decide to use AI. I wanted to test its boundaries and see what it could do. So, I decided to ask the AI one simple question: What will happen in my future?
Now, normally when you ask an AI a question like what will happen in my future, you’ll get a very simple answer like, “I’m sorry, I cannot predict the future” or “I’m not capable of that.” Well, that is exactly the type of answer I got. At least until I tried again, and again, and on my third attempt, it gave me an answer:
“You will go to the grocery store today.”
I was utterly shocked and kind of confused, like anyone would be. Why would it actually give me an answer? I was just messing around. And why would I be going to the grocery store today? My girlfriend and I both go to the grocery store on Saturdays, it’s always been like that ever since we moved in together around two years ago. I don’t go to the store for any other reason, and so I disregarded the AI’s comment. Thought it was some kind of glitch, or maybe an AI coder messing with me. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I curiously asked the same question again. And to my surprise, it once again responded with another answer:
“You will receive a phone call today.”
I truly thought that the AI was messing with me until a minute or so later, my phone buzzed. It was a call, and it was from Ava. This had to be a coincidence, because there is no way artificial intelligence can actually somehow see into my future. Although I was freaked out, I answered my phone.
Ethan: H-Hello?
Ava: Hey Ethan, I’m going to be working a little later tonight. Do you mind going to the grocery store to pick up a gift and a card for my Mom’s birthday tomorrow? The store will be closed by the time I get off so I won’t be able to make it when I’m off.
Ethan: Is this some kind of a joke?
Ava: What do you mean?
It had to be a joke, or some kind of a prank. Because otherwise, there was no way to explain this. The AI just predicted that I would receive a call, and that I would go to the grocery store. Maybe this was all just some huge coincidence, or maybe the AI I had used was just bugged. That’s what I wanted to believe, anyway.
Ava: Hello? Ethan, you uh, you there?
Ethan: Y-Yeah, sure. I can do that.
Ava: Okay, thank you! Make sure to get her something nice, okay?
Ethan: I will, don’t worry.
We talked on the phone for a couple of minutes until we hung up. I decided not to tell her about what the AI had told me just moments before she called me. I knew she wouldn’t believe me. She’d probably think that I was just messing with her, the way I thought that she was just messing with me.
I grabbed my keys and headed to my car and drove to the grocery store, the one Ava and I always go to. I made my way to the birthday cards section and was picking out one of the cards. I couldn’t focus and found myself in an endless loop of thinking about what that AI had said. I had to test it out to prove to myself that this was not real and everything that had happened was pure coincidence. And so, I used my phone and asked the AI:
“What will happen in my future?”
It didn’t answer. Not like the typical “Sorry, can’t do that” answer, it actually just didn’t say anything at all. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or even more concerned. While I was thinking about this, I noticed that there was an older man, who was dressed in all black, standing about ten feet to my left. He seemed to be looking for a card, just like I was, but in my peripheral vision, the man seemed to be looking right at me. His fierce gaze burned into my soul, unlike any other. I wanted to turn to confront the person staring at me. I was almost too scared to turn fully at the man, frozen in time. And just as I was about to turn and face the stranger, I noticed on my phone that the AI had answered my previous question:
“You will be followed.”
This sentence made my heart sink into my shoes. I-I was too scared to move. I’ve never really frozen up like this and could not feel my legs. In my peripherals it almost seemed as if the man was getting closer to me, he was now about five feet away. I don’t know why I wasn’t able to move. It felt as if I was under some kind of spell cast by some witch or wizard. I was sure I was going to die right then and there. Until suddenly, I was abruptly startled by a woman who tapped my right shoulder and asked me in a kind voice:
Grocery Clerk: Are you finding everything okay?
Ethan: Y-Yes, I am.
Satisfied with my answer, the women walked away. Being startled by this woman allowed me to move again, and almost made me forget about the man who was keeping me under this hypnotic state. I quickly turned to my left, expecting to meet the man’s gaze, but was met with nothing. The man had somehow vanished. I thought I was just seeing things, but that didn’t explain my inability to move. I couldn’t explain the events that had just transpired, nor how the AI could predict such events. I didn’t want to ask the AI that question ever again, but it seemed like I didn’t have a choice. I looked at my phone, and sure enough, just as I thought this, the AI wrote me an answer to the question I’d been asking it, but this time, I never actually asked it. The AI said:
“Your girlfriend will go missing.”
Now I’d seen enough with the AI to know that it wasn’t messing around. I quickly called Ava and to my horror, she didn’t answer. She always answered my phone when I called her, no matter what she was doing. I actually don’t remember the last time she didn’t pick up. So, I began to freak out. I ran to my car, not even caring about purchasing a birthday gift for Ava’s mother. I put the keys in the ignition and floored it to our house. By this time, Ava would be almost home, however she said that she’d be working late, so I have no idea how much longer it will be till she’s here. I just hope that she’s okay.
It’s been about two hours since I made it back home from the grocery store, and Ava has yet to answer any of my calls. I want to believe that her phone is just out of battery, but I feel that this is not the case. I even tried to contact her mother, but to no avail. I’m beginning to panic and am not sure what to do. Maybe I should call the police? Maybe I should go out looking for her? Or maybe I should-
I notice my phone, which has a new notification from the AI, a new answer to a question I never asked.
“You will die tonight.”
I didn’t even have time to react to this, because as soon as I read it, my home was filled with the sound of a doorbell. I got up with relief, thinking my girlfriend finally made it home from her eternally long shift. As I was getting up, the one doorbell ring turned into two, and then three, and then a repetitive sound that kept on continuing. I did not know why my girlfriend would ring the doorbell so many times. As a matter of fact, why would she be ringing the doorbell to her own home? I was about fifteen feet from the door when the ringing turned into violent banging sounds on the door’s wood. I got to the door and looked through the peephole. I was horrified. I could easily tell that the person outside my home was the same person that was at the store with me just hours ago. They were wearing the same dark clothes from earlier and stared at the door with the same menacing gaze that I felt from before. Although I was scared that the man followed me to my home, what scared me the most was his face. His face shook to my very core. He had pale, almost gray skin with pitch black eyes that seemed to have no soul. He had a terrible smile on his face, stretching from ear to ear with what seemed to be water dripping from his grin. He chuckled, and I jumped back in fear and yelled:
“Who are you, and where is Ava?”
The banging on the door stopped, and the home fell silent. There was no response from that, that thing that stood outside the door.
In this moment of terror, my heart sank after I remembered that I did not lock the door out of habit, since Ava usually arrives home shortly after I get home. If this thing decided to try the doorknob then I was as good as dead. I slowly stepped towards the door, making sure not to creek the floorboards that stood in my path. I took a few steps and the worst happened. The floor creaked, and that thing began its banging on the door once more. I rushed towards the door handle to twist the lock, but it was too late. The thing was already ahead of me and began opening the door. As the door began to open, I shoved my shoulder into the door to keep it closed. However, whatever this thing was, it was inhumanly strong. It pushed as hard as it could and almost hit its grimace hands through the door frame. With the help of fear and adrenaline, I managed to close the door, just enough to lock it.
This thing began to bang on the door even harder than before, and it screamed with a hellish laugh. I was shivering in fear as I have never heard anything scream in such a way. I ran to my bedroom and began crying the most tears I had ever cried in my life. I didn’t understand what was happening, and why it was happening to me. I thought of my girlfriend who I wanted to make my wife. I wished that I could just wake up, and realize that this was all some sick nightmare. However, I knew that this wasn’t the case.
The banging has gotten much louder, and the door sounds like it is about to give way under that thing’s sheer force. Its laugh has also gotten louder, and it almost seems like it knows that it is going to get in, and I believe it will, but I’m not going down without a fight.
I am writing this experience down in hopes that people will learn from my experience. I have a bat in hand and will try my best to fight back against this thing. Please, if you are reading this, take my advice when I say, never ask AI about your future.