How AI shamans ‘predict’ the fortunes of curious South Koreans

At Vinaida, a cultural products store in the South Korean capital, visitors are having their fortunes read by an artificial intelligence-powered shaman. Traditionally, Korean practitioners, known as mudang, wear colourful robes and perform dances and chants to commune with the gods. At Vinaida, however, the shamans are presented as floating AI-generated heads on a screen. These virtual shamans consult the saju, or “four pillars of destiny” – a centuries-old belief system. A person’s fate is divined according to their date and time of birth.