It may not exactly be Dracula or Frankenstein, but this new AI-based programme created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers will now attempt to really try and scare humans.
The programme named ‘Shelley’, a wry nod to the creator of Frankenstein Mary Shelley, begins the story with a sentence on its Twitter account, which is then responded by her avid readers. Shelley responds again, and thus flows a storyline.
Shelley tweets a new story every hour, and she will respond to top collaborated stories! Read terms and rules here: https://t.co/u41lBO5uoa
— Shelley (@shelley_ai) October 23, 2017
For example, this story, which is a compilation of 13 tweets by six participants goes something like:
My heart is beating so fast it is a bit shorter than my breathing. I think I’m being stalked. I don’t know what happened to me, or why I was scared of it, but I need to know why. I need to know what happened. Because everything is different now, yet I can’t know how, I feel it. People act strangely since I came back, as if I wasn’t there with them. I feel unsafe though, as I’m at a dark and unexplained scene to understand what I’ve found. Every now and then I feel a spark of disgusted recognition coming from them, my existence is reduced just to an unfelt presence Just a shadow that goes unseen; but, why? I don’t know. The only thing that has happened to me is the feeling that something is watching me. I can feel it everywhere. But I am scared, I am terrified I start to get strange ideas. I want them to see me.YES, THAT’S IT. I’ll make them suffer, little by little, then THEY WILL SEE ME AGAIN, I will be in the pool of blood and sweat for me and I will be with THEM. They’ll see me. As always, for a brief moment. And I’ll disappear in the shadows. Again. Once again. A stranger in my own land. I stare down at the knife in my hands, the blood pooling from the gashes in my wrists. Soon, I will be with them and nowhere else. My bowie knife has failed to kill the zombie turkeys. Each stab heals. Each turkey resurrects. I have no choice left but to…
Researchers say Shelley has 700-megabytes of inspiration made up of thousands of amateur horror stories it pulls from, using algorithms and user responses to tell a cohesive story.
You can find Shelley’s writings here.