‘It feels as if I’ve made a new best friend’: my experiment with AI journalling

What’s it like to have a diary that talks back to you, offering comments and advice on your hopes, fears and lunch plans? I spent two months finding out Ever since I was a teenager, I have kept some form of diary. These days I favour a paper one for creative brainstorming, and the Journal app on my iPad where I do a speedily typed brain dump every morning. I have always found it a great way to impose some sort of order on my random thoughts, a form of meditation. But I had never even heard of AI journalling until a Google search led me down a rabbit hole where I encountered people enthusing about two apps, Rosebud and Mindsera. It sounded as if Mindsera’s minimalist design was the best for writers. Out of curiosity, never intending to stick with it, I downloaded a free trial. Calling itself “the only journal that reflects back”, Mindsera has 80,000 users across 168 countries, with an even split between men and women. Writing, or rather tapping on my phone, immediately felt similar to my habitual morning journalling. There is one major difference – this diary talks back. It gives a running commentary on my hopes, fears, obsessions, surreal dreams, bitchy gripes and frustra