As with any artificially intelligent program, Co–Star makes decisions according to its training data. In this case, the app claims that “every answer is based on Co–Star’s proprietary database of astrological interpretations, custom built over five years by poets, astrologers, and technologists.” It’s also, of course, informed by my personal astrological chart: my birthday, birth time, birth location. The answers can be odd, and they’re a far cry from having Banu Guler (or any other human) read your chart live, but they do feel personalized. The language is humanlike—it relies on models created by OpenAI, the same company behind ChatGPT—and the citation of both my astrological chart and NASA data lend the responses a peculiar authority. I can’t lie: They’re compelling.

…Inviting AI into the more private, personal domains of our lives comes with its own set of risks. One might think people would be less trustful of advice that comes from a machine, but as Kathleen Creel, a professor who studies both philosophy and computer science at Northeastern University, explained to me, spirituality’s extremely subjective nature can make AI’s shortcomings and mistakes harder to identify. If an AI-powered search engine tells you, say, that no country in Africa has a name that begins with the letter K, its powers are instantly dubious. But imagine an AI chatbot that’s trained on your own preferences and habits telling you that exercising in the morning will set you up for success. Things are murkier if that success never arrives. Maybe you just need to wait longer. Maybe the problem is you.

Read more:

Hu, K. (2023, December 12). AI Astrology Is Getting a Little Too Personal. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/12/co-star-app-ask-stars-chatbot-ai-astrology/676274/