Artificial intelligence is capable of creating a new religion.
The historian Yuval Noah Harari – known for his best-selling book ‘Sapiens’ – is convinced that software such as ChatGPT could attract worshippers by writing sacred texts.
Harari told a science conference that AI is “gaining mastery” of human language and is now capable of using it to shape our culture.
He said: “In the future we might see the first cults and religions in history whose revered texts were written by a non-human intelligence.
“Of course, religions throughout history claimed that their holy books were written by unknown human intelligence. This was never true before.
“This could become true very, very quickly, with far-reaching consequences.”
The academic has added his voice to growing calls for more regulation over the sector.
Harari said: “We need to act quickly before AI gets out of our control. Drug companies cannot sell people new medicines without first subjecting these products to rigorous safety checks.”
