‘Carrot’ App Creator Readies Weather App Featuring Artificial Intelligence That Hates Humanity

By  Thomas Halleck @tommylikey t.halleck@ibtimes.com

Carrot is far more sinister than Siri, and significantly more sarcastic. The "AI construct with a heart of weapons-grade plutonium" will eventually destroy humanity, but not before she wakes you up and helps you plan your day. Grailr LLC

There are countless weather apps available for the iPhone, but how many of them feature sadistic robots that taunt you when it’s going to rain? Carrot Weather, which arrives in the iTunes Store on Thursday, is the latest addition to the popular app ecosystem centered around a digital assistant that’s more HAL 9000 than Siri.

Carrot is a sadistic supercomputer that gets you to do things like complete tasks, wake up and lose weight -- by berating you for your failures. She is essentially Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk's worst nightmare. 

In reality, the Carrot suite of iPhone apps has become popular by

hooking its “meatbags” (her preferred term for humans) on snarky quips and pop-culture references. Creator Brian Mueller is a self-taught programmer who left screenwriting to develop apps. He said the character is based on the sarcastic prodding he often encounters from his wife, sister and mom.

“We have a really sarcastic sense of humor, and making fun of each other is always a part of that,” Mueller said. “Some of Carrot’s dialogue is things that they’ve said to me in real life.”

He thinks Carrot entertains her users, which keeps them coming back to the types of apps that are usually a bore. “Carrot” also responds to users on Twitter and through email support, which Mueller said helps them form a relationship with the character.

Carrot will offer a variety of insults depending on current weather conditions, and already includes more than 2,000 lines of dialogue along with animated comics. Mueller said he might sell in-app purchases with new content in the future to keep Carrot fresh.

Carrot will eventually make her way to Android, but Mueller refused to give a timeline. After all, he's going to have to teach himself how to code in a whole new programming language.

The weather app will connect with Mueller's popular to-do list and alarm clock to assist users as they plan their day. Carrot is openly planning on killing off humanity, but it is nice to know that in the meantime, she is here to help.