Artificial intelligence has already written essays, composed songs, and even painted digital masterpieces — but now it’s apparently picking winning lottery numbers.
A Michigan woman recently made headlines after winning $100,000 in the Powerball lottery with numbers she said were chosen by ChatGPT, OpenAI’s conversational AI tool. The story, which quickly went viral across social media, has fascinated tech enthusiasts and skeptics alike, blurring the line between luck, logic, and machine learning.
The $100,000 Powerball Win
The winner, Tammy Carvey, a 45-year-old from Wyandotte, Michigan, told reporters that she asked ChatGPT to generate a set of numbers for the September 6 Powerball drawing. At the time, the jackpot had exceeded $1 billion, drawing millions of hopeful players.
To her shock, the numbers worked — sort of.
Carvey’s ticket matched four white balls and the red Powerball, a combination that typically pays out $50,000. But because she had opted for the “Power Play” multiplier, her prize was doubled to $100,000.
“When I first checked my ticket, I thought I won $50,000,” Carvey said in an interview with People. “Then I logged into my Michigan Lottery account and saw it had doubled. My husband and I just stared at each other in disbelief.”
How ChatGPT Got Involved
According to Carvey, she wasn’t expecting AI magic — she was simply curious.
“I’ve seen people online use ChatGPT for recipes and job applications,” she said. “I just thought it would be fun to see what numbers it came up with. I never thought it would actually win.”
She typed a simple prompt: “Give me a set of Powerball numbers most likely to win.”
ChatGPT responded with a combination of numbers generated using historical patterns and pseudo-random logic. Of course, the model can’t actually predict anything — but the numbers happened to align with the drawing.
Carvey says she plans to use her winnings to pay off her home and put the rest in savings.
AI and the Myth of Predicting Randomness
While the story sounds like a triumph for artificial intelligence, experts — and even the Michigan Lottery — are quick to clarify: AI didn’t “beat” the lottery.
Lottery draws are entirely random. The numbers are produced by mechanical or electronic randomizers, meaning that each combination has an identical chance of appearing. Whether your numbers come from ChatGPT, your birthday, or a lucky coin toss, the odds remain the same.
Still, this story highlights a fascinating psychological phenomenon. When technology appears to intersect with luck, people tend to attribute meaning or predictive power to it. That’s why stories like this spread so quickly — they mix the wonder of AI with the timeless hope of winning big.
In other words, ChatGPT didn’t actually predict the numbers — it just gave Carvey a fun way to engage with chance.
Why People Are Turning to AI for Luck
As AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude become part of everyday life, users are finding creative — and sometimes unexpected — ways to interact with them. People have asked AI for career advice, meal plans, dating messages, and now lottery numbers.
This shift says less about artificial intelligence itself and more about human curiosity and trust in technology. We often project intelligence and foresight onto algorithms, even in domains like the lottery, where outcomes are truly random.
The Michigan story also reflects a growing cultural theme: the idea that AI can help us in every area of life, from productivity to play. While AI isn’t capable of “seeing the future,” it does add a modern twist to age-old traditions of luck and superstition.
The Reality: Luck Still Rules
Despite the viral buzz, statisticians are unanimous — no algorithm, AI, or data model can forecast a truly random event like a lottery draw.
Powerball’s official odds of winning the $100,000 prize tier are approximately 1 in 913,000. For the jackpot, it’s a staggering 1 in 292 million.
So while Carvey’s use of ChatGPT makes for an amazing headline, it’s best understood as a case of pure luck with a digital twist.
A Fun Reminder in the Age of AI
The Michigan story serves as a reminder that while AI is incredibly powerful, it doesn’t have supernatural insight. Still, the fact that people are using it in such imaginative ways shows how quickly technology has become part of everyday life.
For Carvey, it doesn’t matter whether ChatGPT was “lucky” or not — it helped her win enough to make a real difference.
“I know it’s just luck,” she said. “But now it’s a great story — and I’ll definitely ask ChatGPT again next time.”
Final Thoughts
Artificial intelligence is reshaping everything from education to entertainment — and now, apparently, the lottery ticket counter. The truth is that no machine can outsmart randomness, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying.
Maybe that’s the real takeaway: AI isn’t about certainty, it’s about curiosity — and sometimes, just asking the question leads to a surprisingly lucky answer.