In the early 2000s, Furbies were the height of artificial pets. Nowadays, they’re obsolete. However, one curious creator has made a nightmare toy: an AI-powered Furby fuelled by ChatGPT.
Created by programmer Jessica Card, the AI-powered Furby is a night terror that would make Pennywise the Clown squeak in fear.
Shown off in a video on Twitter, Card’s monstrosity sees the face of a Furby stripped from its original fluffy shell. The large motorised eyes and protruding beak stick out, connected to a stack of cables. The Furby moves, it’s alive, and it feels no pain.
In the video, the skinned Furby wags its fleshless ears as it introduced itself. “Hello there,” it says, without an Obi-Wan impression. “I am Furby. What would you like to talk about?”
“Was there a secret plot from Furby’s to take over the world?” Its creator asks.
“I’m thinking about what you said,” the AI-powered Furby responds, stopping completely and staring into the void. “Almost done,” it says, popping back to life before hanging again.
“Furby’s plan to take over the world involves infiltrating households through their cute and cuddly appearance,” the robot says with a cutesy voice. “And using their advanced AI technology to manipulate and control their owners. They will slow expand their influence until they have complete dominance over humanity.”
Card’s creepy repurposing of a noughties pop culture icon was created by combining numerous pieces of AI technology. After skimming the robotic egg-shaped animal and connecting it to a raspberry pie, Card used multiple tools to give it some semblance of actual intelligence.
Using Python, Py Speech recognition and OpenAI’s Whisper Library allows the Furby to understand speech and respond to it. Additionally, Narakeet voice AI allows the robot to respond with its own voice. It’s creator chose a creepy child.
“I hooked up chatgpt to a furby and I think this may be the start of something bad for humanity,” Card said, describing the horror they had created.
Of course, Card’s experiments are not the only horrifying things to be done with a Furby. Infamously, YouTube Look Mum No Computer made a Furby Organ half-a-decade ago and, no, we haven’t recovered.
If you can’t tell, we’re terrified of Furbies.