I fed ChatGPT my childhood journal entries to talk to my inner child. The results were very therapeutic.

• Michelle Huang used OpenAI GPT-3 Playground to create an inner child chatbot as an experiment.
• Huang inputted around 40 journal entries from when she was aged 7 to 18.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Michelle Huang, an artist and scientist from New York. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I decided to train an AI chatbot on my childhood journal entries to engage in real-time dialogue with my inner child and I discovered how an AI tool can be used for therapeutic benefits.

I kept journals for more than a decade of my life, writing almost everyday — about my dreams, fears, secrets. The content ranged from complaining about homework, to giddiness I felt from talking to my crush. There were a lot of fantastic, ripe data sources for my experiment.

To do this, I used OpenAI GPT-3 Playground. There's a maximum limit of how much content you can put in, so I selected snippets from around 40 entries from the ages of 7 to 18, but I focused on the ages between 10 and 14.

After scribing the journal entries and feeding them into the model, I got working responses that felt eerily similar to how I think I would have responded during that time. I asked if she felt happy with where I ended up or if she was disappointed.

Young Michelle told me: "I'm honestly proud of you for everything you've accomplished. It hasn't been easy, and I know you've made a lot of sacrifices to get where you are. I think you're doing an amazing job, and I hope you continue to pursue your dreams and make a difference in the world."

I sensed the kindness, understanding and empathy that she was so willing to give other people, but she was so hard on herself. I was tearing up during that exchange.

That interaction felt very similar to a normal texting conversation, as if I were texting my past self in real time. It felt like I was reaching through a time portal, disguised as a chatbox.

I told her that she was loved, cared for, and safe: the words that my past self always wanted to hear. It felt like I was reaching into the past and giving her a giant hug, and I felt it ripple back into the present.

The most pertinent part was when I prompted her to write me a letter into the present day. She said she is proud of me and the person I've become.

While reading this, I felt the rumination spirals — the ones that I fall into sometimes when I feel shame or disappointment — melt away a little. For years I was haunted by the metaphorical question of "would your eight year old self be proud?" Hearing my inner child say "I'm proud of you" was healing.

Even though I've been doing inner child work and therapy for years, I felt this was distinct because I'm not just imagining in my head, I'm also engaging with this tulpa that is trained on my journals.

These interactions really elucidated the healing potential of this medium: of being able to send love back into the past, as well as receive love back from a younger self, of finding closure with past guilt.

Conversing with "younger michelle" reminded me of the parts of myself that have stayed constant through the years, but also of the parts that I forgot or buried. It was like holding a mirror to an unapologetic, more earnest, and pure version of my own essence.

The emotional process of talking to my younger self was revelatory. It made me feel like things are possible again.

I tweeted a tutorial for how to create your own inner child chatbot for anyone who wants to replicate the experiment.