--- title: "Asking ChatGPT for Crochet Patterns Yields Disturbing Results" description: "ChatGPT is capable of churning out workable crochet patterns. Just one catch: the finished product might not be exactly what you were looking for. " date: "2023-02-28" modified: "2023-02-28" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/chatgpt-crochet-patterns-disturbing" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "artificial intelligence" - "chatgpt" - "the digest" --- # Asking ChatGPT for Crochet Patterns Yields Disturbing Results ![ChatGPT is capable of churning out workable crochet patterns. Just one catch: the finished product might not be exactly what you were looking for. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Narwhal-ish ChatGPT is capable of churning out workable crochet patterns, [*The Guardian* reports](). That's impressive. Just one catch: the finished product might not be exactly what you were looking for. Per the *Guardian*, the trend was first popularized by crochet enthusiast Alexandra Woolner, who went viral back in January with a [TikTok video]() showcasing the results of their first attempt to bring a ChatGPT-suggested crochet pattern to life. They prompted the OpenAI chatbot to draft a pattern for a crochet walrus, and the AI provided — but the crochet creature that resulted can really only be described as narwhal-*ish*. "The consensus among people who have seen it is that it looks wrong and ugly," Woolner told the paper, "but also very cute." Indeed, with its more-than-cartoonishly massive eyeballs and delightfully bulbous tusk, the resulting creature is both wrong and ugly, unhinged to the point of disturbing. Still, it's got a little bit of alien charm. (In a comment, one TikTokker characterized the nightmare narwhal as a "manatee in witness protection," a description that we simply must stan.) ## Bad Ratio Importantly, this chaos narwhal isn't an outlier. Woolner has made a series of these wonderfully monstrous crochet beasts, each as bizarre as the next, a reality that seemingly speaks to two very important characteristics of ChatGPT: one, that the device is built to *predict* — [rather than perfectly recall information]() — and two, that it's bad with numbers. Crochet patterns rely heavily on proper ratios, which ChatGPT can't produce with reliable accuracy. And besides, it's still an approximation of what a crochet narwhal — or [cat]() or [newt]() — *might* look like based on the chatbot's training data, and not a true representation. As such, chaotic, almost dream-like representations of the requested animals ensue. The narwhal "came out shockingly very accurate while still being very, very wrong," Woolner told the *Guardian.* "It's a weird mix, kind of an uncanny valley." ## Hail Blinky Though the crochet monsters might be a little disturbing, other folks can't help but join in on the fun. "After I finished the head, it was pretty apparent that this was not going to be anything resembling an animal in nature," Diana Ramirez-Simon, a *Guardian* copy editor, said of her own attempt at a ChatGPT-designed crochet narwhal. "My daughter named him Blinky, because he can't blink," she added. "His eyes are too big." **READ MORE:** [*Crochet enthusiasts asked ChatGPT for patterns. The results are 'cursed'*]() \[*The Guardian*\] **More on ChatGPT:** [*Bosses Say They're Already Replacing Workers with AI*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()