Coda Hauntings: An AI Ghost Story

Abstract

Coda Hauntings: An AI Ghost Story originated as a project for a digital storytelling course during my PhD program in 2023. Drawing from my love of supernatural literature and horror movies such as the 2020 film Host, I came to this project thinking, what if GenAI—a seemingly supernatural entity in itself—manifested as a digital haunting of our online spaces? Pairing this idea with the feelings of fear and amusement I’ve experienced while experimenting with ChatGPT I decided to write a story where an AI ghost’s hauntings reveal our disturbing but fascinating relationship with technology; this is the idea I hoped to accomplish with Coda. In using generative AI imaging and video software such as Diffusion Bee and DI-D to animate Coda’s character, ChatGPT to write her story, and WordPress plugins like AI Engine to make Coda’s chatbot, I realized that creating anything with GenAI—image or narrative—is a process. Ultimately, Coda Hauntings invites readers to consider how GenAI complicates our agency, especially in online spaces, with its evolving interaction that can be amusing just as much as it is unsettling.