Can AI Tell Fortunes: A Conversation Between Algorithms and Divination
Looking through the 7-day search rankings today, I noticed a detail: on both the Brazil and the Turkey lists, chatgpt had entered the top of the trending rankings (Google Trends "Trending Now," 7-day window). Google Trends shows relative popularity, not absolute search volume; for the actual scale, refer to the page.
Two languages, two countries, the same week, the same word. The reasons may be many and varied, but one thing is certain — people have long been in the habit of asking a model some very private questions.
In fact, this had a wave of popularity two years ago. In early 2025, about three weeks after DeepSeek launched, its daily active users passed 20 million (according to several financial media reports in February 2025), and "AI fortune-telling" then became one of its most widely known uses. According to media reports, the way many young people used it at the time was to throw their birth data, their troubles and a piece of "mystical instruction" at the model together, and ask it to talk about them.
So that question deserves a straight answer: Can AI tell fortunes?
First, split "fortune-telling" into two steps
This is the most crucial step. What is called fortune-telling is really two things.
The first step is "calculating" — deriving by rules. The sexagenary cycle is a system of symbols: the ten heavenly stems paired with the twelve earthly branches, cycling through sixty (the sixty jiazi); add the four pillars of year, month, day and hour, and you have a clearly defined set of permutations and combinations. This step is computable, and is traditionally called "chart casting" (paipan).
The second step is "reading" — translating symbols into plain language. This step has no formula. Give the same chart to two people and you will get two readings.
AI has a clear advantage in the first step: it will not miscalculate the stems and branches, will not forget a solar term, will not write down the wrong day pillar. This is its home ground.
In the second step, AI needs restraint just as humans do — because it is far too good at telling stories.
That famous finding in psychology
In 1948, the psychologist Bertram Forer ran an experiment: he gave students a "personalised personality analysis," but what everyone received was actually the same content. The result was that the vast majority thought it "described me very accurately — it was practically written for me." Later, the psychologist Paul Meehl named this phenomenon the Barnum effect — people readily believe that a general, vague description is about themselves.
This is also why the experience of "the fortune-telling was so accurate" often comes when you are feeling low and need someone to understand you. What you need at that moment is not prediction, but to be understood.
In psychological terms, any divination tool, AI included, should first make one thing clear: what it offers is a language of interpretation, not a verdict on your fate.
How to tell a good tool from good sales patter
| Feature | A trustworthy tool | Suspicious patter |
|---|---|---|
| Explains its scope | Discusses rules, sources and limitations | Only says "very accurate" |
| Visible process | The chart-casting, the basis and the reasoning are all open to view | Only a conclusion |
| Dares to say it's uncertain | "This part can't be seen" | Has an answer for everything |
| Doesn't promise outcomes | Doesn't guarantee wealth, a reconciliation, or passing | Gives a cast-iron guarantee |
My view
Whether AI can tell fortunes depends on how you use it.
Treat it as an oracle and it will spin stories to match your expectations; treat it as a mirror and a translator — you describe a state you cannot quite put into words, and it uses a clearly structured system of symbols to help you look at it once — and it is actually more honest than many people who claim to be "very accurate."
That is how it is used on 占卜迷指: you describe your trouble in natural language, the system recommends a suitable method, casts the chart and gives a reading, and you can export it to keep and compare against slowly. It will not tell you "this is simply your fate"; it only takes the part you cannot see clearly and hands it back to you from another angle.
What truly decides your fate is never the algorithm — it is what you do after you read that line.
Sources
- Bertram Forer's 1948 experiment and the Barnum effect (overview)
- Science Popularization China: Who exactly is using DeepSeek to "tell fortunes"? (2025-03-22)
- Sina Finance: 20 days after launch, DeepSeek's daily active users pass 20 million (2025-02-05)
- Google Trends "Trending Now" trend data (captured 2026-09-11; popularity is a relative value, not absolute search volume)
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