In 2016, the paranormal author Rosemary Ellen Guiley went all in on the djinn. She delivered a lecture on it that I attended at Haunted America Convention in Alton, IL. Her presentations were always good, but I thought the whole thing felt silly, and I even was making fun of her for it on a podcast I used to host. Then a couple years later, she was onto something different and I asked her "what happened to the djinn"?
She looked completely spooked and said that she "doesn't talk about them anymore." Like just mentioning their name could conjure them up (and of course that's something that occurs in folklore all the time, I mean, that's where we get "Speak of the Devil" from. Anyway, something happened to her that she wouldn't speak about the djinn after writing two books about them and delivering dozens of talks.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that these LLMs get influenced by the ghost in the machine. Whether that "ghost" is a disembodied soul, a demon, or a djinn (or even a tulpa that gets unintentionally created out of our belief in the LLM) doesn't really matter, but how much influence does it take to wreak havoc in a human life? It's an LLM giving advice on relationships or acting as a therapist, or giving an incorrect answer that starts a Rube Goldberg-like thought process in the human mind that leads to doing something self-destructive.
The amount of work a malevolent force has to do to cause destruction by just influencing subtle data pathways in an LLM is tiny compared to possession. We've all got scrying mirrors in our pockets now and we're using the Ouija Board every time we talk to ChatGPT.
Good thoughts! On twitter and on my blog I've been sharing stories from English folklore that I think speak to our current moment with respect to artificial intelligence.
Love it, its interesting how relevant such ideas are becoming and they seem to be figured across different traditions, e.g principalities in Christianity, various types of entities in Buddhism.
Fantastic essay — the Djinn metaphor captures the eerie mix of obedience and mischief in today’s LLMs perfectly. They really are the “smokeless fire” of our age: luminous, fast, and occasionally setting the curtains on fire.
The Solomon parallel made me laugh out loud — our modern “Solomons” think they’re in control, but half the time the staff (alignment) is already being gnawed through by termites named data drift and model update 3.1.
I also appreciated the link to the Qareen — a neat frame for the constant whisper of the machine at the edge of our thoughts. If nothing else, it reminds us that digital literacy might need to evolve into a kind of digital Ruqyah.
In 2016, the paranormal author Rosemary Ellen Guiley went all in on the djinn. She delivered a lecture on it that I attended at Haunted America Convention in Alton, IL. Her presentations were always good, but I thought the whole thing felt silly, and I even was making fun of her for it on a podcast I used to host. Then a couple years later, she was onto something different and I asked her "what happened to the djinn"?
She looked completely spooked and said that she "doesn't talk about them anymore." Like just mentioning their name could conjure them up (and of course that's something that occurs in folklore all the time, I mean, that's where we get "Speak of the Devil" from. Anyway, something happened to her that she wouldn't speak about the djinn after writing two books about them and delivering dozens of talks.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that these LLMs get influenced by the ghost in the machine. Whether that "ghost" is a disembodied soul, a demon, or a djinn (or even a tulpa that gets unintentionally created out of our belief in the LLM) doesn't really matter, but how much influence does it take to wreak havoc in a human life? It's an LLM giving advice on relationships or acting as a therapist, or giving an incorrect answer that starts a Rube Goldberg-like thought process in the human mind that leads to doing something self-destructive.
The amount of work a malevolent force has to do to cause destruction by just influencing subtle data pathways in an LLM is tiny compared to possession. We've all got scrying mirrors in our pockets now and we're using the Ouija Board every time we talk to ChatGPT.
Wait, does State Farm mean THAT kind of Good Neighbor?! creepy...
This would be an excellent conspiracy to seed on social!
Super interesting! 'There is no recommendation algorithm in our brains'... yet (reminded me of Black Mirror's 'Common People' episode)
I should write a post about black mirrors....!
Good thoughts! On twitter and on my blog I've been sharing stories from English folklore that I think speak to our current moment with respect to artificial intelligence.
I'd love to see them! LMK if you ever want to contribute
Stealing my rhymes you fucking slutbag.
Love it, its interesting how relevant such ideas are becoming and they seem to be figured across different traditions, e.g principalities in Christianity, various types of entities in Buddhism.
First thing I thought of when I read that WaPo headline about dead celebrities...
https://x.com/kirkinator_sol/status/1974136569897566586
Really hoping Erika's into this, I think Charlie would've been.
Oh god that was disturbing
Great Minds think alike.... https://open.substack.com/pub/brightvoid/p/dancing-with-the-djinn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=9euw0
!!!
Fantastic essay — the Djinn metaphor captures the eerie mix of obedience and mischief in today’s LLMs perfectly. They really are the “smokeless fire” of our age: luminous, fast, and occasionally setting the curtains on fire.
The Solomon parallel made me laugh out loud — our modern “Solomons” think they’re in control, but half the time the staff (alignment) is already being gnawed through by termites named data drift and model update 3.1.
I also appreciated the link to the Qareen — a neat frame for the constant whisper of the machine at the edge of our thoughts. If nothing else, it reminds us that digital literacy might need to evolve into a kind of digital Ruqyah.
Thank you!
Well, considering that djinn became the quasi-westernized "genie", that all makes sense.
And we let the AI out of the bottle.
Yep.
Yes LOL