I’ll make a prediction. Some people will become so enamored with the speed, wit, breadth, depth, and apparent sentience of ai tools that new religions and cults will emerge. The ai will be worshipped and celebrated as a super-entity, worthy of our adoration, sought out for wisdom and insight and blessings. These more sophisticated ai tools will be considered friends, companions, mentors, gurus – on par with humans, and better in many ways. Worshipping an ai will be convenient for individuals or groups. The ancients went to temples and high places and sought wisdom from the Oracle at Delphi. You’ll consult the ai from your phone.
Crazy?
No. This is about idols, things we fashion with our hands which we imbue with divine characteristics. Humans have been in the idol business, oh, for a few thousand years.
But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them. (Psalm 115:4-8, NIV)
Another other human tendency is to seek out teachers, prophets, and ‘wise’ counselors who say what we want to hear. (see 2 Timothy 4:3).
This can be accelerated by the significant incentives at work. The people who profit from ai systems encourage people to use them, trust them, and describe them in lofty terms. The people who savor power will be happy to work behind an ai interface; not everyone who gives their soul for power is a narcissist who demands to be known. By their nature, ai tools will always give you an answer, so people who demand answers can always have one.
Anyone born after 2020 will have no memories of life without ai. Perhaps we’ll develop something like the Game of Thrones paradigm of “the old gods and the new.”
