The machine sits next to a deli counter, towering over cardboard boxes piled near the entrance to the Iconic Magazines store in NoLIta. It has a tall standing washer-dryer, with black buttons, rows of flashing lights and gauges labeled with celestial bodies — “sun,” “moon,” and the eight planets — on in front of its white facade.
“It could be something from NASA,” said Tim Wiedmann, a 27-year-old student from Germany who visited the store on a Wednesday night in June.
While standing Mr. Wiedmann in front of the machine, its front screen taught him to “ask the stars.” Using a knob, he cycled through about 100 questions. Among them: How can I be better at my job? Should I leave New York? Should I start a cult?
After selecting a question, Mr. Wiedmann entered his birth date, time and place. The screen flashed a message that read, in part: “All answers are based on astrological calculations.” The machine, using a built-in camera, took his picture. Moments later, he spit out a paper containing his grainy picture and the answer to his question.
“It looked like someone was there,” said Mr. Wiedmann, who was one of many who came to use the machine that night. At times, lines at the store began to flow as people waited their turn. Several visitors said they heard about the machine on TikTok, including two 19-year-old students.
“I asked for my red flags,” one of the students said of the question she chose, before another student read aloud the machine’s printed answer.
He says: “Your red flags include a tendency to set high expectations and a fear of conflict. Your Jupiter and Saturn placement suggests a need for perfection and a fear of rejection. By avoid conflict, you can limit your potential for growth and meaningful connections. Remember, conflict is a natural part of intimacy. Practice it with compassion and let go of unrealistic expectations.”
Like most people who used the machine that night, he didn’t know at first that its answers were generated using artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT and GPT-3.
The machine was developed by Co-Star, a technology company with a buzzy astrology app that uses AI to generate readings. It will be at Iconic Magazines for most of the summer and then move to Los Angeles later this year.
Astrologers have for centuries determined the movement and position of the planets and other celestial bodies to inform readings and horoscopes. Co-Star follows similar methods, but its daily readings are prepared by AI that pulls text from a database written for the app by a team of astrologers and poets.
The engine, which is free to use, was created to promote Co-Star’s new in-app service, The Void, which starts at around $1. The machine service works the same way: Users can ask open-ended questions not usually addressed in app astrological readings and receive AI-generated answers using Co-Star’s database of prepared text.
Banu Guler, 35, the founder of Co-Star, named a range of aesthetic inspirations for the machine, including Soviet-era computers, devices used by NASA, photo booths and vending and washing machine. It was also influenced by the Zoltar fortunetelling machines that were once common attractions on boardwalks and arcades, he said.
“The best part is you get your little reading,” Ms. Guler about Zoltar machines. “And then you put your reading on your fridge, or in your book, or in your journal, or it’ll be bouncing around in the bottom of your bag for months, if you’re me.”
“Even if you know trash, special trash,” she added, flashing a smirk.
Before starting Co-Star in 2017, Ms. Guler in technology for art and fashion companies. He said that before, he used AI to predict how certain factors, such as the weather on the date of an auction, might influence the sale price of an artwork. Later, he drew on what he learned about AI to develop Co-Star.
“It’s like, How does this fit into astrology?” he says.
“Astrology is not a perfect science, but there is no perfect science either, which I don’t say in an anti-science way,” added Ms. Guler. “I don’t believe that science is perfect, and I don’t believe that anything else is perfect, because people are not perfect. And that’s cool. Like, genuinely, it’s beautiful.”
Vijender Sharma, an astrologer of 35 years in northern India, who specializes in Vedic astrology, said he used software to prepare readings. He said that since astrology is an informed science, as long as the AI is trained with proper knowledge, he sees no harm in using the technology.
Susan Miller, a New York astrologer who has written horoscopes for decades, is more skeptical. “AI is exciting for things like splitting atoms,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t trust such technology in a practice that often deals with human emotions. “Machines make mistakes,” Ms. Miller. “And the person who gets the answer can walk around with the wrong answer in their head forever.”
After checking out the Co-Star machine at the magazine store, Nisarga Kadam, 23, who works in financial technology in New York, was also skeptical of the AI-generated answers.
“It’s a bunch of trained words put together,” Ms. Kadam. “It’s not personal.”
Anna Jonska, 26, a video director in New York, felt the opposite. said Ms. Jonska that he is not the biggest fan of astrology and that using the AI engine has made him more confident in it.
“I’d rather believe an old lady leaning on a crystal ball is lying to me than a computer,” he said.
