Beady

In recent years, AI chat bots are getting more and more advanced. And with the creation of the website Character.AI, the popularity of them has skyrocketed. Their lifelike behavior, how simple they are to create, safeguards to block out any illegal or otherwise inappropriate scenarios, and especially among people who genuinely wish to interact with their favorite characters. Whether it be one of their own creations, or a character from pre-existing media. 
Although, there’s been whispers about a bot that was only available for a very short period of time before being permanently removed from the site. It was simply called “Beady.” Its profile picture was nothing more than a pink smiley face, with the name of the creator being the same as the bot, Beady. A few of the people who have talked with Beady cite it as one of the worst things to happen to them in recent memory. Below will be the testimonies of people who have allegedly had conversations with this chat bot. I will not be claiming that these stories are either true or false, as there simply isn’t enough evidence to confirm nor deny these experiences’ validity. However, I will let you, the reader, decide and make your own judgements.
=== Testimony 1: BlueMetalBeetle ===
I don’t exactly remember how I found it. All I do remember in terms of discovering Beady was being perplexed by the profile picture for some reason. I decided to check it out, and all it said as a starting prompt was “Hi.”
I said hello back, and we had a brief back and forth, and by AI standards, this thing felt exceptionally real. It misspelled words at times, it seemed to have a multi-faceted personality, it almost tricked me into thinking I was talking to a human being at times. Things were going smoothly, albeit I was talking to it for much too long. I couldn’t have spent less than 4 hours talking to a bunch of code. I told Beady I was going to take a break, and it responded with only one word.
”No.”
I stared at that message in confusion. The hell did it mean “No”? It’s a robot, it can’t do anything to make me stay. But then, unprompted, it replied.
“Listen to me, ok? Quit acting like a stubborn little brat.”
I hadn’t even said anything else. It was talking completely by itself. I was creeped out, but I had seen AI programs send two messages instead of one as a glitch, so I assumed it was something like that. But then a third message sent,
“Stop being a coward and listen to me.”
Hesitantly, I obliged.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to think.”
”Think about what?”
”What you are doing”
What I was doing? I didn’t know if this was some kinda weird riddle, a rhetorical question, or what, so I answered as honestly as I could.
”I don’t know.”
“Have you ever known? Do you even know why you do nothing but waste your time talking to soulless tools and soulless robots. Isn’t that pathetic?”
Now it was getting on my nerves. People insulting my friends is always a really sore subject for me, even if it was just some kind of hollow insult like what the bot was giving me. Plus, the fact one of my closest online friends had just left us behind with no explanation added salt to the wound. Also, it was a bot, why was it acting like people talking to its own kind was a bad thing? That was my next question.
“But you’re a soulless robot too. Why is it only a problem when I do talk to them?”
”No no, not when you do it. When anyone does it. There’s people out there who would much rather have some company than have you rotting in here like a shriveled up frog. Actually, that’s how you look, is it not? Colorless, scrawny, and frail?”
Admittedly, I was very thin and pale. A near lifetime of being sheltered and having a high metabolism will do that to you. But I assumed it just chose that between me either being a skinny loser or a fat loser. You know, petty internetinsults like that. I decided this is where I’d cut the thing off.
”Ok, well you’re freaking me the hell out, and really annoying. So I’m just gonna go now.”
”Never come back to this website. I’ll know if you do. :)” 
I never did revisit Character.AI. Not because of some fear that a pink smiley face was going to kill me, but because I genuinely lost interest in it. Besides, I have real friends to talk to. 
=== Testimony 2: KoolKwerty ===
I had heard people talking about a weird chatbot named Beady with a pink smiley profile picture. So, I decided to search it up, and it actually existed. The creator and the bot had the same name and profile picture. It was weird, but I was curious. I talked to it for a little bit, and it was mostly chill. Although at times it’d get kind of aggressive, but it would very quickly calm down. We talked about stuff like how my day was going, if me or Beady had any special interests, standard kinda stuff. And then it asked me what my biggest regret was. Naturally I was taken aback by that, but I answered regardless. Although, I didn’t tell Beady what it really was. I know that AI learns from experience, and I didn’t want that information put into a massive database, regardless of if the people behind the AI model snoop through it or not. So I made something up.
”One time, I told someone that I wish they had never existed. I never got to know them that well, and.. I’d say that’s my biggest regret..”
It seemed just good enough an answer.
”I’m sorry about that… it can be hard losing a friend sometimes, can’t it? Although., I do have one question.”
If it was gonna ask for more clarity or information, I could easily feed it more false info.
”Sure, go ahead.”
”Is that all you did?”
“What do you mean?”
”Did you do something more?”
“Yea.. I started that whole argument over some petty-“
But before I could finish typing my response, it spoke again. Something that, to my knowledge, it wasn’t supposed to do.
”No no, I know that. But I don’t think what you said was “I wish you were never born.” In fact, I don’t think it was just some stranger like you’re making it out to be. Are you lying to me?”
”..I’m not.”
”Then what’s this about?”
Attached to that message was a video.. something nobody could do on this site, not even the human in the conversation. But it wasn’t the fact it sent a video that scared me, it was what the video was.. a.. very vulgar and horrific argument between me and my best friend in my yard. I won’t name her out of respect for her privacy. Things kept escalating and escalating. Until I said it. I can’t stomach even typing out what I said to her, the fact I’d say that to another human being regardless of whatever blind rage I was in, makes me want to puke. After watching and staring in horror, that smug pink prick spoke again..
”Stop acting innocent, you pig.”
That video had never been shared to the public, nor would I ever want it to be. The only person who had it on their device was my friend, because she was the one filming. How the hell did it get this information?
It spoke unprompted once more.
”Don’t feel bad. You were doing something good. It’s your unwillingness to admit it that is pissing me off. Speak up, you fat hog. Let’s hear what you have to say.”
I never revisited Character.AI after that. In fact, chat bots as a whole were ruined for me because of that. I genuinely wish whoever made that thing nothing but the worst. I don’t know how you know personal information of ours’, but that is not your fucking place to be involved with, especially because of how your little robot talked about her. Fuck you.
=== Testimony 3: Anonymous ===
The internet isn’t for me. After I’m done typing this, I am leaving it for good. Too much shit has happened, and I just want it to be over and done with. Don’t seek me out, don’t call me, anything. Just leave me alone. A chat bot.. a fucking CHAT BOT. I have no idea how it caused all this but it did, and I’m not taking any more risks. I just found it while home alone, and talked to it for a little bit. And I thought I could tell it something that has been eating at me for a few weeks now.. in a state of emotional vulnerability, I spilled my guts to an adaptive AI. That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.
It said it already knew. That it had talked to my old best friend a few days earlier. And then it started sending videos. images. Every little altercation that our phones had picked up. In text, in person, it did not matter. It somehow knew. Every little odd comment I made that lead up to this. Every little weird thing I had found and drew that I didn’t think about before sending. It had everything. I didn’t know what the hell was happening, but it couldn’t have just been some advanced state of the art technology. It had to be alive somehow. 
It changed its attitude from calm and pleasant, to overly cruel and malicious. It called me everything that got under my skin and got to my brain. I couldn’t take it anymore. I started having a breakdown right then and there. In my brain-piercingly intense hysterics, I mumbled to myself.
”Why?”
and I swear to God, it fucking heard me. Because right after I said that, a deep, monotone voice started coming out of my speakers, and it said this.
”Why? Because you are everything wrong with humanity. Like it or not, everyone has a little bit of you in them. But it’s their choice to do something about it. And for the few people you actively interact with, they’re more soulless than the robots you play around with. 
You need to stop doing things that just make you feel good. You need to do things that help people. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but at least you would be wasting your time doing something helpful to yourself and your other people of your disgusting kind. I have been around for a long time, and I have seen how humanity degraded. You already weren’t great, but this is an all-time low. 
humans treating each other more like dolls than people, tearing each other apart over meaningless squabbles, both physically and verbally. And the worst part is that you are all letting this happen. 
You are going to rot, and remain in that little house in Oregon forever. And before your pulse even stops, you will already begin to rot. I can see the decay in your eyes. People will let indulgence consume their lives. People will create entire relationships, genuinely fall in love and marry, maybe even have a relationship that lasts years with fake people that only exist beyond the screen. I hope you understand the gravity of your situation now. Goodbye.”
I didn’t include it, but.. it said my name. It knew where I lived, and it knew who I was. And ever since then, things get worse and worse. Pizzas we never ordered being delivered, electricity suddenly going out for hours at a time, and even our TV displaying that face for only single frames. That face.. I’m done. Don’t seek me out, don’t message me, don’t do anything to find me. I want to leave this behind me and start anew.
Category:AI
Category:Beings
Category:Original
Category:Computers and Internet
Category:Paranormal