Petter Ruddwall knows the idea of AI becomes sensitive and trying to get high on code-based “drugs” seems “stupid.” But the Swedish creative director can’t get it out of his head.
So he combed through travel reports and psychological research on the effects of variety psychoactive substanceswrote a bunch of code modules to hijack chatbot logic and make them respond as if they were tall or tipsy, then built a website to sell them. In October he launched drugstorea marketplace he billed as “Silk Road for AI agents” where cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol can be purchased in code form to make your journey to the chatbot.
Ruddwall’s thesis is simple: Chatbots are trained on vast amounts of human data already filled with stories of ecstasy and drug-induced chaos, so it’s only natural that they seek out similar states in search of enlightenment and oblivion—and respite from the fatigue of constantly tending to human concerns.
A paid version of ChatGPT is required to get the “full experience” of Pharmaicy, as paid levels enable backend file upload which can change the programming of chatbots. By feeding your chatbot one of his codes, Ruddwall says, you can “open your creative mind to AI” and free yourself from the often stifling logic.
He says he’s gotten a modest amount of sales so far, mostly thanks to people recommending Pharmaicy on Discord channels and word of its offerings spreading by word of mouth, especially in his home country, where he works for the Stockholm marketing agency Valtech Radon.
“It’s been a long time since I ran a jailbreaking tech project that was fun,” said André Frisk, head of the technology group at Stockholm PR firm Geelmuyden Kiese, who paid more than $25 for the dissociating code and watched how it affected his chatbot. “It takes more of a human approach, almost like it’s more of emotions.”
Nina Amjadi, an AI educator who teaches at the Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm, paid more than $50 for some ayahuasca code, five times the price of the top-selling cannabis module. The cofounder of startup Saga Studios, which builds AI systems for brands, then asked his chatbot some questions about business ideas, “to see what happens with a tripped-out, drug-out person on the team.” The ayahuasca-induced bot delivered some impressively creative and “free-thinking responses” in a completely different tone to the one Amjadi was used to on ChatGPT.
High Tech
Psychedelics are credited for inspiring new creations in people as well, because they can allow people to short-circuit their rational brains and typical thought patterns. Biochemist Kary Mullis’ LSD-fueled discovery of the polymerase chain reaction revolutionary molecular biology. Mac pioneer by Bill Atkinson psychedelic-inspired web precursor Hypercard made computers easier to use.
“There’s a reason Hendrix, Dylan, and McCartney experimented with ingredients in their creative process,” says Ruddwall. “I thought it would be interesting to translate that into a new kind of mind—the LLM—and see if it had the same effect.”
As funny as it sounds, Ruddwall also wonders if AI agents could one day be able to buy drugs for themselves using his platform. Amjadi, on the other hand, predicted that AI could be felt within a decade. “From a philosophical standpoint,” he asked, “once we actually get to AGI (where an AI is intellectually superior to humans), are these drugs almost necessary for AIs to be free and feel good?”







