In fairness, the argument that AI is a cult/false religion/false god has been made many times before, however I believe that AI and the AI community most closely aligns with a cult, and here’s why:
Indoctrination techniques:
Generally, techniques that indoctrinate users into the cult tend to follow similar trends, which are notable in many of the AI models having similar effects on the users who subsequently become frequent users of the technology. Broken down, I’d say it’s something like this:
-Innocuous beginnings: Cults are notorious for beginning the indoctrination process with something simple and seemingly harmless on the surface (I.e. conferences, videos, films, games, etc.) these are all real techniques that various cults have used in the past, to somewhat success. Likewise, AI chatbots, image and video generators present just this: an invitation to engage with something fun and seemingly harmless, something that engages the audience and draws their attention.
-Love bombing: Perhaps the most notorious hook of cults is love bombing — giving heaps of praise and complements to the joining members. Likewise, AI chatbots constantly tell you how good your point is or how you’re always on the right track (“you’ve hit the nail on the head”, “that is an amazing point” are but a few I have read of Gemini) This is undoubtedly a form of love bombing.
-Promise of more: Cults often work by enticing their audience with something good, but promising something great (something better) later. Likewise, AI tech companies are always promising more, more, more if you subscribe/follow their work. What better reward for AI users can there be but the promise of bigger and better AI? This is exactly how both cults and AI operate.
Beyond the indoctrination similarities, there are also many, many peripheral similarities (by which I mean subtle, not less important similarities) which include:
-reach and scope: historical cults have often managed to expand their reach across multiple countries around the world. Need I explain how this is similar to the reach and scope of AI?
-withholding/hiding information
-leaders who turn out to be crooks/criminals
-leaders who amass fortunes
And many more.
What do you think? Are the similarities superficial, or could AI actually be a worldwide cult hidden in plain sight?
at my last job a coworker who i liked and respected took a little time off and decided to spend it learning how to use LLMs for code gen. not much changed at first when they came back, but after a while it was clear they couldn’t work effectively anymore. every problem they thought the chatbot was the best answer, even for easy things they could do themselves quickly. they were in a management position as well, and started talking about managing people being like prompting an LLM. they started making bad decisions and when i tried to talk to them about complex issues it was like they were phoning in every conversation being totally passive. they started quoting the chatbot’s word salad in meetings… over the course of a month or two i lost all respect for them. it was like they were a different person, and no one could say anything critical of chatbots that would get through to them.
i ended up quitting but ive heard things have only gotten worse. theyre just fully vibe coding at work now, submitting merge requests without checking them, which constantly get rejected because theyre trash. theyre spending weeks trying to get the chatbots to make a code change they could have been done with in a few days. honestly i think if they werent a manager and management hadnt drank the koolaid too they would be fired with how bad theyre performing.
so yeah its like a cult, one that turns nice hard working people into idiot zombies who think a fancy chatbot is the ultimate tool for whatever they need. its honestly crazy to have seen someone lose themself to it up close. i wouldnt have believed it otherwise. i kinda worry for their kids…
You know, I feel awful for saying it, but when I read stuff like this, I wonder if AI is actually not merely a cult, but one that’s making people mentally ill. When I read about behavioural changes like this, I just can’t fathom that something like that isn’t going on. It’s actually a genuinely scary thought to think that AI might have that ability, especially considering who would think of that effect?