I Asked AI About Wealth, It Predicted Death

Late that night, out of boredom, I opened a newly downloaded AI fortune-telling app and typed, [When will I get rich?]

But my finger slipped, and what got sent instead was. [When will I die a violent death?]

Before I could even fix the typo, the AI replied instantly, [At 2 a.m., death by bear.]

I froze. Then laughed out loud.

A bear? In the middle of the city?

I lived on the 23rd floor. What was the bear going to do? Ride the elevator up?

I was just about to delete the app when my phone rang.

It was my best friend, her voice frantic. "Zariah Gordon! Something’s wrong! The new bear at the zoo has escaped!"

"The tracker says it’s near your building! Run!"

——

At 1:30 a.m., I stumbled upon an AI fortune-telling app in the store.

The comments were glowing.

[Holy crap, so accurate! I bought a ticket home that night and dodged a disaster!]

[I offended a major client and asked if my boss would fire me. The AI said no, and sure enough, I wasn’t. Unreal.]

Curious, I downloaded it and typed it into the input box. [When will I get rich?]

But my hand slipped, and I accidentally typed, [When will I die a violent death?]

I cursed softly and quickly tried to delete the unlucky typo. Still, before I could, the AI replied instantly, [Calculation complete. Today at 2 a.m., death by bear. Countdown: 28 minutes, 17 seconds.]

I froze, then laughed.

What a joke.

This was downtown. The nearest wildlife park was over a hundred kilometers away.

And besides, I lived on the 23rd floor. What was the bear going to do, grow wings?

I rolled my eyes. “What a garbage app. Just wasting my time.”

I was about to uninstall it when my phone suddenly vibrated nonstop, making my heart jolt.

It was Tatiana Holmes, my best friend.

She always went to bed early. Why would she be calling me now?

A strange unease twisted in my chest, but I still answered.

Before I could speak, Tatiana’s voice came through, thick with panic and tears.

“Zariah Gordon, something’s happened! That bear we just got at the zoo, the one you saw the other day, escaped!”

I froze, dread sinking into my bones. A sick premonition swept over me.

“What? Wasn’t the cage locked? What about the security?”

Tatiana’s voice trembled uncontrollably through the line.

“I don’t know! The surveillance system went down! The tracker shows it’s in your neighborhood and it’s still moving!”

“But I remember you said you were working late tonight. Maybe just stay at the office for the night, okay?”

“Don’t come home. That bear... there’s something really wrong with it…”

I froze, my breath catching in my throat.

I was supposed to work late, but the shift got canceled at the last minute.

If I had known something like this would happen, I would’ve never come back.

When I didn’t respond, Tatiana went silent for a moment. Then, her voice dropped to a whisper, filled with dread.

“Don’t tell me… you’re already home?”

She stumbled through her next words, trying to sound calm.

“The rescue team’s already on the way. My younger brother, Samuel, is a firefighter; he went with them.”

“Don’t be scared, okay? Just lock the door, stay quiet, don’t turn on the lights… You’ll be fine…”

I answered her numbly, but my hands and feet were ice cold. Everything else she said faded into a blur.

In my panic, one thing flashed through my mind: the AI fortune-telling prediction.

2 a.m. Death by bear.

The scene from a few days ago at the zoo rushed back in vivid detail.

That newly arrived bear had been massive, unnervingly massive.

It had sat silently in the corner of its cage, its eyes fixed on me with an eerie stillness.

The thick iron bars between us had seemed pitifully thin under its gaze.