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 in a YouTube video.
His story provides a cautionary tale about the dangers — and delights — of AI.
Friends reunited
As a child, Rizzotto had given his imaginary friend a detailed life story.
“In my mind, he was an English gentleman from the 1900s, a WW1 veteran, an immigrant, a poet… and of course, an expert StarCraft Player,” Rizzotto said on Twitter.
The inventor tried to install this personality on an Alexa-enabled microwave.
He first gave the device “a brain transplant” in the form of a Raspberry Pi computer, attached a mic and speakers, and integrated GPT-3 with the microwave’s API.
Then came the tricky part: giving the machine memories.