Skip to main content

You can try out this AI-created magic card trick at home

Writer Arthur C. Clarke famously said that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” With one of their latest research projects, researchers from Queen Mary University of London are carrying out a variation on this idea — by using technology (and, more specifically, artificial intelligence) to create a “mind-reading” card trick.

The trick involves a magician with two decks of cards. These get shuffled, and then the subject is asked to pick a total of eight, including both words and image cards. They must then choose a word and an image, without showing it to the magician. The magic bit? That the magician has already written down the pairing the person has chosen. It seems like spooky stuff, although its creator points out it is basic psychology.

Recommended Videos

“The AI system [that created the cards looked] for words and pictures that are closest in some type of meaning, a measure called semantic similarity,” Peter McOwan, professor of computer science, told Digital Trends. “The algorithm finds sets of themed target words and pictures that match — such as ‘hunger’ — and other sets of words and picture that don’t match as well, such as ‘fashion.’ We then produce printed cards with these sets of similar and different word and pictures, and use a bit of clever maths in the card shuffle and dealing that means each pile of cards dealt has only one target word or target picture in it. When a spectator picks a word packet and a picture packet, it’s most natural to make the word and picture association we want them to, so our prediction proves correct.”

Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s neat because — at its root — it is a classic trick. There is no EEG brainwave reading, or fancy levitation. Instead, it is using pattern recognition and internet searches to discover how the  mind subconsciously matches words and pictures. It is based on an idea that a  magician could probably do but computers and big data make significantly easier. The researchers successfully tested the finished magic trick on attendees at science fairs — and used this to verify that it worked correctly.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal PLOS One. If you want to have a go for yourself, you can also download the assets here.

“It’s a new area of study, which is always exciting to start to explore,” McOwan said. “Magic has been a hobby for years, but it’s also an interesting way to explore areas like machine creativity and human perception and cognition.”

Next up, he wants to use AI to come up with magic tricks from scratch. Just so long as they do not all involve sawing us pesky humans in half, we’re happy!

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Amazon’s AI shopper makes sure you don’t leave without spending
Amazon Buy for Me feature.

The future of online shopping on Amazon is going to be heavily dependent on AI. Early in 2025, the company pushed its Rufus AI agent to spill product information and help users find the right items. A few weeks later, another AI tool called Interests made its way to the shopping site. 

The new Alexa+ AI assistant is also capable of placing orders semi-autonomously, handling everything from groceries to booking appointments. Now, the company has started to test yet another AI agent that will buy products from other websites if they’re not available on Amazon — without ever leaving the app. 

Read more
Amazon’s AI agent will make it even easier for you to part with your money
Amazon Nova Act performing task in a web browser.

The next big thing in the field of artificial intelligence is Agentic AI, which is essentially an AI tool that can automate certain multi-step processes for users. For example, interacting with a web browser for tasks like booking tickets or ordering groceries. 

Amazon certainly sees a future in there. After giving a massive overhaul to Alexa and introducing a new Alexa+ assistant, the company has today announced a new AI agent called Nova Act. Amazon says Nova Act is designed to “complete tasks in a web browser.” Amazon won’t be the first to reach this milestone, as few other AI companies have already attempted this vision. 

Read more
Clinical test says AI can offer therapy as good as a certified expert
Interacting with Therabot AI App.

AI is being heavily pushed into the field of research and medical science. From drug discovery to diagnosing diseases, the results have been fairly encouraging. But when it comes to tasks where behavioral science and nuances come into the picture, things go haywire. It seems an expert-tuned approach is the best way forward.
Dartmouth College experts recently conducted the first clinical trial of an AI chatbot designed specifically for providing mental health assistance. Called Therabot, the AI assistant was tested in the form of an app among participants diagnosed with serious mental health problems across the United States.
“The improvements in symptoms we observed were comparable to what is reported for traditional outpatient therapy, suggesting this AI-assisted approach may offer clinically meaningful benefits,” notes Nicholas Jacobson, associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine.

A massive progress

Read more