AI Apocalypse? Why Language Surrounding Tech is Sounding Increasingly Religious

Fauria, Krysta. “AI Apocalypse? Why Language Surrounding Tech is Sounding Increasingly Religious.” Associated Press, 29 Aug. 2025, apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-apocalypse-dfb0aa9e5e96c583461bdd56fb21568a.

Fauria discusses the implications of common language and terminology used to identify AI’s capabilities. While many have noticed the humanization of AI, Fauria addresses the even more extreme divine sort of language that prominent tech figures use to describe AI and its processes. The CEO of OpenAI has called it “magic intelligence in the sky”. The cofounder of Palantir has passionately linked AI to the Antichrist. A foundational pioneer in neural networks and machine learning warns against AI because of its “godlike” advancements. Other influential players in the tech game have gone as far as to directly admit that AI is their religion. The concept of a pseudo-religious attempt to build an alternative god comes across as sci-fi fantasy, but so do the claims of it being able to cure all disease and replace humanity. Fauria notes the financial incentive of claiming such polarized opinions, whether positive or negative in their extremity, serves to mainstream the AI conversation.

I thought Krysta Fauria’s article was interesting because of the links that it presented between AI’s consideration as a higher power to the historical behaviors and language of religious belief systems. Even though the author attempted to claim that these apocalyptic sort of terms weren’t necessarily negative, relating them to Ancient Greece and revelation, it was interesting to consider the linguistic changes and similarities from ancient “archaic” times to modern technologically advanced ones. Fauria briefly mentions that technologically minded individuals tend to deny religion, and yet the language and sentiments are eerily similar to early Christianity. She briefly touches on the manipulative sort of rhetoric that has facilitated AI’s integration into the public conversation, leaving the reader with new perspectives to consider.