I asked Meta AI to interpret my recurring dreams — and I was surprised by the results

There are so many reasons I love AI, but the fact that I can talk to it about anything without it walking away or falling asleep, tops the list. For example, you can go into every detail about your dreams, and Meta AI will tell you what they mean instead of responding "uh huh,” like a friend eagerly waiting for you to wrap it up.

Dreams are interesting because they are like short movies that only you can see. Even if they don’t seem to make sense, the vivid images and storylines can still fascinate us to the point where, upon waking, we cannot wait to share. Of course, the only person that usually cares about the dream, is the dreamer.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve had two of the same recurring dreams for years. It’s wild. The first one always includes an airplane. I’m boarding it, looking out the window, sitting on the tarmac, or in the cockpit flying into space. The second recurring dream I have involves desperate attempts to find an exit to a maze. Am I stressed? Probably. I’ve had versions of these dreams dozens, maybe even hundreds of times.

Google tells me that the airplane dream is about aspiration and goals while the maze dream is about feeling overwhelmed. From what I gather based on the number of Google searches, it’s clear that others have seen versions of these symbols while in REM sleep, too. That’s why I decided to go a little deeper and let Meta Llama 3.1-405B do some interpreting. Just for fun, I even had the AI create a visual. Note, I feel comfortable sharing my dreams with Meta AI, but I realize that this type of openness might not be for everyone. If you’re worried about privacy, you may want to be less descriptive or choose a different AI model completely.

The airplane dream

I used the prompt: “I have a recurring dream that goes something like this: I have some luggage with me, but not much and I'm boarding an airplane. Sometimes I'm already on the plane and I'm watching people walk by my sit, once I took a shower on the plane and once, I was in the cockpit and looked out into space. Can you please help me understand what these dreams mean and why they keep recurring?”

Interpretation and meaning

I had no doubts that Meta AI would take a deep dive into my dreams, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much more detail the response had than a typical Google search. Beyond evaluating the elements of my dream, the AI helped me take a look at why the dreams were repeating.

Connecting the dots

Every time I have this dream, I wake up and shrug. I actually thought recurring dreams were something everyone had until I asked my doctor. Most of my friends and acquaintances have never had one. So I really appreciated the AI going further than simply interrupting my dream. It added what I can do to reflect and take action. It offered some valuable questions to ask myself and I'm already working on staying more mindful of my stress and emotional levels.

Then, I asked for a visual

I don't know what I was expecting, but that image was definitely not it. It's safe to say that Meta AI did a crummy job creating a visual of my dream. I can’t help but giggle when AI makes a mistake. In general it’s rude to laugh at mistakes other than your own, but AI doesn’t mind and when the visuals are so completely off, I simply can’t help myself. No matter how detailed I got with my prompts, the AI always had some type of image with the airplane coming towards me. Sheesh! I hope I don’t have nightmares tonight.

The maze dream

I used the prompt: I have a recurring dream that goes something like this: I am in a some type of maze. Some dreams I've been in a maze that I've had to climb, other dreams the maze is in the subway and I am hurrying to catch the subway car before the doors close. Can you please help me understand what these dreams mean and why they keep recurring?”

Interpretation and meaning

Google told me that I was overwhelmed and stressed based on this dream. C’mon, aren’t we all? But the detail in which AI went into with the interpretation was really accurate. To be fair, I’m sure this dream is recurring simply because I’ve been a perfectionist since birth and am harder on myself than anyone ever could be. But it’s pretty cool how AI gathered all of that from one prompt.

This visual was not much better

Again, not what I was expecting. Every image the AI created was in some sort of farm maze, which is about as far away from the subway as one can get. Also, the maze in this image feels fairly easy to get out of, so maybe my problems are not so bad after all.

Final thoughts

Overall, Meta AI did a great job interpreting my dreams. Plus, it offered valuable solutions to help calm my mind. I was not expecting much from the visual interpretation. I can't fault the AI for not understanding exactly what's going on in my head; my husband has been trying for over a decade. I definitely plan on using Meta AI and other forms of AI to interpret more dreams in the future.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to use ChatGPT to help write your resume in 9 easy steps
• How to get started with ChatGPT free model
• ChatGPT can now access the whole internet — this is big