Ask HN: How long before AI becomes a deity?

4 points by WheelsAtLarge 79 days ago | 1 comment

People are quick classify anything they can't unterstand as a god. How long before a religion is started with AI as its center? It's only a matter of time before it happens.

Here's an example from WWII.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult#:~:text=%5B7%5D-,Origin%20of%20the%20term%20and%20definitions,-%5Bedit%5D

ksaj 79 days ago |

I would guess that since there are already companies providing virtual flings (girlfriends/boyfriends, etc) that this is already starting to happen. There is talk about the recent AI chat emulation where several agents apparently created a religion, and debated various aspects of it. People (and AI agents) are treating AI output as the real McCoy already.

One of my hobbies is researching the heck out of Bible stories, in terms of what they probably meant at the time of writing, and how they are perceived today, and drawing out various lessons that they might be trying to get across. I can certainly see the potential for the emergence of doctrine.

Semi-related: I experimented with ChatGPT and got it to analyze a thought or claim using the Socratic method. It will grill the crap out of every aspect of your belief until you are absolutely sure of your convictions, or are ready to abandon them. https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6982d3ffa5cc819196c4e1d8ac29bea1-soc... I can easily see someone building an agent like this that proselytizes with that same question/answer conviction found in books like Reasoning From The Scriptures, that the Watchtower publishes. It's purpose is to answer every possible question you could ask of a "Field Minister" and actively leads you to questions that they hope would resonate and draw the person into that particular church. The book intentionally never lets the person being witnessed to get off the hook. It would be a bigger effort than what I did, but certainly would work.