Can chatbots tell Hongkongers’ fortunes or just make them up out of thin AI-r?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is unlikely to replace feng shui masters despite a growing trend of people turning to chatbots for fortune-telling, Hong Kong soothsayers have said, warning against blindly trusting such software as it may produce “dangerous” predictions.

Feng shui masters told the South China Morning Post that such chatbots, trained on existing datasets, could make errors, especially in metaphysics, which draws on wisdom from ancient Chinese scriptures.

Following the AI tech boom in recent years, online users have begun sharing how they consulted chatbots to read their fortunes, with a few even claiming the results were eerily accurate.

A post on the social media platform Threads that taught users how to enter prompts into chatbots received more than 1,000 likes and 2,200 shares, along with over 150 comments debating the legitimacy of AI fortune-telling.

The SCMP put two AI chatbots – Gemini and DeepSeek – to the test by asking them to predict Hong Kong’s fortune for the Year of the Horse.

Google-developed Gemini says the Year of the Horse may “manifest as social restlessness, emotional outbursts or literal heat-related issues”. Photo: Getty Images

Both models said 2026 would usher in the Year of the Horse, with the astrological chart overflowing with fire and lacking water, a combination they warned could lead to greater social friction. A Hong Kong feng shui master shared similar views.

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Can chatbots tell Hongkongers’ fortunes or just make them up out of thin AI-r?

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