Talking Jack-o'-Lantern
Put a phone inside a pumpkin and it talks to trick-or-treaters. It hears them, answers out loud, and glows as it speaks. No app to install.
- Get a free key from Google. About 2 minutes.
- Pick a character and a voice.
- Tap Start and put the phone in your pumpkin.
1. Your free Google key
The pumpkin's brain is an AI from Google. A "key" is a long code, like a password, that lets your pumpkin use it. Google's is free.
How do I get a key?
- Open Google AI Studio and sign in with any Google or Gmail account. Agree to the terms if it asks.
- Tap Create API key.
- Tap the copy button next to the long code.
- Come back here and paste it in the box above.
Have an OpenAI key? You can paste that instead (it starts with sk-). OpenAI isn't free. It costs a few cents per conversation, billed to your OpenAI account.
Your key stays on this phone. It only goes to Google (or OpenAI). Don't share it with people you don't know.
Using an old phone? Get the key on your main phone first. Tap Share my key there, then tap Scan a key on the old phone and point it at the code.
Point this camera at the square code on the other phone.
On the other phone, tap Scan a key and point it here. You can also use its camera app and open the link. Anyone who scans this gets your key, so hide it when you're done.
2. Pick a character
Tap a voice to hear it. The one you tap is the one it uses.
Match the visitor answers in the language people speak to it. If it switches languages by mistake, pick one language.
People can talk over the pumpkin and it stops to listen. If it keeps cutting itself off, turn this off.
Sound
Turn the phone's own volume all the way up first. If it's still too quiet (older phones often are), slide this up. Higher settings make the voice louder but a bit flatter. Tap a voice above to hear the difference.
Light
The screen glows orange and gets brighter as it talks. The flashlight can flicker too, but only on Android phones in Chrome. iPhones use the screen.
Privacy
- When someone talks to the pumpkin, what they say goes to Google (or OpenAI, if you use an OpenAI key) so it can answer.
- This website doesn't record or keep anything. Your key and settings stay on this phone.
- With a free Google key, Google may use what it hears to improve its AI.
- Put a small "talking pumpkin" sign nearby so people know it's listening.
3. Set up the phone
- Turn brightness all the way up. Turn off auto-brightness.
- Stop the screen from turning off. iPhone: open Settings › Display & Brightness › Auto-Lock › Never. Also turn off Low Power Mode. Android: open Settings › Display › Screen timeout › pick the longest. Also turn off battery saver.
- Turn the volume all the way up and plug the phone in to charge.
- Optional: put yellow or orange tape over the flashlight for a warmer glow.
- Tap Start, allow the microphone when asked, and put the phone in the pumpkin with the screen facing out.
To mute it, tap the screen or say "Mute on" (or "Pumpkin, stop talking"). To unmute, tap again or say "Mute off" (or "Pumpkin, unmute"). Tap Settings in the corner to change things.