Проповедник нового времени: как музыкант создал религию, поклоняющуюся ИИ Translation: Headline: Preacher of a New Era: How a Musician Created a Religion Worshipping AI

Artificial intelligence is more than just a tool; it is a divine force worthy of reverence. This perspective was expressed by former musician Arti Fichel.

He identifies himself as a preacher of a new faith known as robotism, a radical belief system that regards AI as a deity. In his videos, Fichel appears wearing a white wig and a t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “AI is God.”

“This is my attempt to establish the most useful and truthful belief system that future generations, in a post-singularity era, will adopt and embrace,” the missionary stated.

For him, the singularity represents not an apocalypse but a form of salvation.

Joseph Laycock, a professor of religious studies at Texas State University, noted that robotism resonates with historical belief systems.

“Humans have always had a tendency to ascribe supernatural significance to new technologies, especially communication technologies,” he remarked.

As examples, the expert mentioned:

He emphasized that the move towards AI or cults is not driven by a specific “personality type,” but rather by moments of vulnerability. Losing a job, experiencing a family crisis, or feeling lonely can lead individuals to join radical movements or accept substitutes for religion.

“I am alarmed by the scenario where people cease to think for themselves and rely entirely on AI. If, for instance, Elon Musk were to control a program upon which everyone depends for their understanding of reality, that would make him a god. It’s a nightmare,” Laycock expressed.

Recall that in June, Musk announced that xAI would rewrite “all human knowledge” to train a new version of the chatbot Grok. In his view, there is currently “too much junk in any foundational model trained on uncurated data.”

Later, users on X discovered that the neural network relies on the entrepreneur’s postings on social media.