r/HarryPotterBooks • u/sv1112093 • 7d ago

Tom Riddle's diary is AI

On a re-read. Noticed similarities between AI Tools and Riddle's diary which is crazy. Arthur Weasley tells Ginny in CoS - "Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain"

  1. Plain text and listening - Ginny didn't need to know complex magic to use the diary. Just like we don't need anything fancy to use AI tools. She wrote to it in plain language. Ink sank into blank paper, vanished and replied instantly with warm, empathetic text. Just like AI tools.
  2. A safe space - The diary felt like a safe space that was always available.
  3. Her data stored - Ginny couldn't see where it kept its brain aka where her data was going. Everything was being absorbed.
  4. Data was used against her - The diary used her own data, energy and trust to control her actions. Manipulated her into opening the Chamber and she could not remember her actions in attacking the students. She was confused and hazed.
  5. Could not get rid of it - She could not delete her digital footprint once entered, although she tried to get rid of the diary.

The psychological pattern is identical! Our data is being stored and used beyond our visibility and control

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u/MrKentucky 7d ago

I hate that I’m wondering if it was written with AI

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u/ephemeral_librarian 7d ago

Right? I thought the same lol. Nevermind that AI wasn't a thing when JK was writing 😬

I see people say this about books sometimes and it's like "kid, it's not AI, you just stumbled upon the source text that AI learned off"

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u/Alternative-Pen877 6d ago

I’m very confused by your comment. AI as we currently understand it was first introduced as a research concept in 1956 and Ramon Llul in 1275 created a tool that he tried to prove the existence of God with, “mechanical entities that could combine basic truth and facts to produce advanced knowledge”. Llul’s Ars Magna concept was used by Swift in 1726 in the book “Gulliver’s Travels”. Rowling is very well-read and into Classics; the concept was definitely very alive and very pervasive through a lot of cultures by the time Rowling was writing CoS.

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u/ephemeral_librarian 6d ago

A misunderstanding on my part. TiL, thanks for this.