Buzz
The debate about how artificial intelligence will reshape media, art, and journalism is growing fast. But few saw it coming that one of the first big AI controversies would take place with something as simple as your fortune cookie from the Chinese restaurant.
Angus Loten of The Wall Street Journal recently explored the world of fortune cookie messages, noting how their vague, thoughtful nature makes them perfect material for AI. While might not be writing masterpieces, it’s clearly adept at generating philosophical-sounding snippets of wisdom.
OpenFortune, a company focused on the small fortunes inside cookies, has turned to to produce their messages. This allows them to generate fortunes in a matter of seconds, far faster than the time-consuming work of human writers. With connections to over a dozen factories, there’s a good chance your next fortune will be AI-generated.
According to the Journal, not all fortune cookie companies are ready to embrace the change. Wonton Food, based in New York, is hesitant to adopt AI technology. Derrick Wong, the company's VP of sales, worries about the potential for offensive messages or setting overly restrictive program limits. He warns that if the software is too narrowly defined, the fortunes could end up being 'boring.'
Wonton Food currently holds a stockpile of 15,000 human-written fortunes, with plans to expand by another 5,000. However, given that the fortune cookie industry produces around 3 billion cookies annually, the temptation of an endless stream of AI-generated fortunes might soon become too powerful to resist.
