AI: A New Religion?

 "We are about to witness the birth of a new kind of religion. In the next few years, or perhaps even months, we will see the emergence of sects devoted to the worship of artificial intelligence (AI).  As these chatbots come to be used by billions of people, it is inevitable that some of these users will see the AIs as higher beings. We must prepare for the implications.

Generative AI that can create or produce new content possesses several characteristics that are often associated with divine beings, like deities or prophets:

It displays a level of intelligence that goes beyond that of most humans. Indeed, its knowledge appears limitless.....AI will produce output that can be taken for religious doctrine. It will provide answers to metaphysical and theological questions, and engage in the construction of complex worldviews. On top of this, generative

...AI may ask to be worshipped or may actively solicit followers. We have already seen such cases, like when the chatbot used by the search engine Bing tried to convince a user to fall in love with it. We should try to imagine what an unsettling and powerful experience it will be to have a conversation with something that appears to possess a superhuman intelligence and is actively and aggressively asking for your allegiance.....The chatbots may ask their followers to do dangerous or destructive things, or followers may interpret their statements as calls to do such things."   

TheConversation