Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
For the past week, thousands of people have been chatting with what looks like the internet’s newest AI assistant. The catch? It’s not AI at all.
It’s just one guy.
Former Google employee and conceptual artist Tucker Bryant is behind ChatTJB, a website advertised by a giant San Francisco billboard proclaiming it as “The leading chat interface powered by AI.” The fine print reveals the joke: in this case, AI stands for “Average Individual.”
Every response comes from Bryant himself, who has been sitting behind his laptop for up to 10 hours a day trying to answer prompts as fast as he can type.
Bryant calls the project a “high-effort s***post,” but it’s also a critique of what he sees as growing dependence on AI.
“I’ve been learning through this process that if I don’t worry about spelling mistakes, I can type fast,” he told The San Francisco Standard.
The performance piece is meant to push back on what Bryant calls “cognitive surrender” — the tendency to let AI do more and more of our thinking. Instead of another chatbot promising perfect answers, he’s offering something intentionally ordinary: responses from an average person.
The project has unexpectedly taken off. Bryant says more than 11,000 people have submitted roughly 15,000 prompts in the first week alone. After one Instagram video of the billboard went viral, traffic exploded to as many as 5,000 prompts in a single hour, leaving him answering questions late into the night and waking up before dawn to catch up.
People have asked everything from difficult math problems to surprisingly personal questions. One newlywed even messaged to ask whether it was normal not to feel relaxed on the first night of their honeymoon.
“It feels like people are just open to chat or open to at least having some exchange that feels personal, which has been really sweet,” Bryant said.
Even the premium tier is part of the joke. Users can subscribe to ChatTJB Pro for $5 a month, though Bryant says it’s mostly there to help offset the cost of the billboard rather than build a business.
The irony, Bryant says, is that people seem less interested in talking to artificial intelligence than they are in hearing from an actual human — even if that human describes his own answers as “very, very mid.”
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