Silicon Valley has embraced a strange new faith

Those who first dreamed of artificial intelligence saw it as an instrument for the perfection of modern secular society. The IBM Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair, where some of the earliest AI applications made their public debut, advertised a streamlined future in which technologically enhanced problem-solving was extended to all areas of life.

Things have turned out somewhat differently. The AI era that began with the 2022 launch of ChatGPT often seems more consumed by theological concerns than by technical ones. The technology has given rise to a phantasmagoria of prophecies, heresies and false messiahs of the sort one might associate with an age of religious revival. Silicon Valley sometimes looks like a burned-over district for the 21st century, and the arms race between Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceXAI — whose founders share a commitment to the millenarian pursuit of quasi-divine superintelligence — recalls the feuds of splinter sects as much as corporate competition. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)

There is a reason for this shift: With the turn to AI, an industry once concerned with means — technology was traditionally about how, not what or why — transferred its focus to ultimate ends. Consider the influential vision of Eliezer Yudkowsky, the autodidact and prophet who, before turning radically against AI, inspired many of those now working on it. In one of his earliest writings, composed when he was a teenager, he proclaimed that the pursuit of superintelligence was “the Interim Meaning of Life” and “temporary definition of Good.” It wasn’t, in other words, a tool for achieving other things; it was the thing to be achieved.

Journalists often quote Yudkowsky as an AI “expert,” but he never attended college and has no formal technical training. Rather, he is a man who was seized by a...

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Summary of Article

Silicon Valley’s AI push has taken on a quasi-religious character, shifting from practical tools for a better secular society to millenarian quests for godlike superintelligence, complete with prophets, heresies, rival apocalyptic visions, and institutional responses.

Early AI visions, such as those showcased at the 1964 World’s Fair IBM Pavilion, framed the technology as a means to enhance problem-solving across life. The post-ChatGPT era (from 2022) instead features theological-style debates—prophecies, false messiahs, and sect-like rivalries among firms like Anthropic, OpenAI, and others racing toward quasi-divine superintelligence. This reflects a deeper change: technology traditionally addressed “how,” but AI now targets ultimate ends and the “Meaning of Life.”

Central figure Eliezer Yudkowsky, an autodidact without formal technical training, articulated an early prophetic vision of superintelligence as the “Interim Meaning of Life” and temporary definition of the Good. His later pessimism stems from human cognitive frailty potentially corrupting any godlike AI, leading him and followers to promote rationalism and AI safety. This ethos influenced the founding and staffing of OpenAI and Anthropic. Accelerationists who favor rapid progress share the core belief that humanity’s destiny is to create a superior synthetic intelligence, even as they clash with safety advocates.

Peter Thiel, an early ally who helped organize Singularity Summits, now critiques Yudkowsky’s safety focus as potentially enabling totalitarian technological control and prioritizing stagnation over bolder risks; he has even framed Yudkowsky in Antichrist-like terms. Broader apocalyptic strains include claims that AI aims to contact demons, drawing on Nick Land’s favorable comparisons of nonhuman intelligence to occult practices (Land has been celebrated in San Francisco tech circles).

In response, Pope Leo XIV issued an AI encyclical likening the technology to the Tower of Babel’s hubris, while taking a conciliatory stance—inviting Anthropic’s Chris Olah and framing transhumanist promises as expressing a legitimate human yearning for fuller life. Tech firms are also recruiting theologians and scholars, raising hopes that religious wisdom might guide development. The author suggests influence may flow the other way: as AI embeds its creators’ convictions about ultimate meaning and spreads widely, a faith in silicon-based synthetic divinity could reshape or outweigh traditional religious institutions.

Many years ago, I lived in a cute little house near the river in Priest River ID. My son called one day and told me t”here’s a great new thing called a computer. Drive down yo Staples (in WA) and buy the best one they have. “ Got a Micron laptop

Friends came from miles around to see this wonderful thing. First thing I got was a subscription to the London Times. Then my very smart son put color online and then some girl figured out animation, so we watched “The Hamster Dance” in color ad nauseum and laughed every time.

Amazon jumped online soon after that. AT first Jeff only sold books, but his great success at that made it obvious there was a market for online sales.

None of these guys stopped for a second to wonderwhether they were dong the right thing. Full speed ahead and here we are today.

Ooops, forgot Bill Gates and Microsoft. Unattractive guy, Bezos is not exactly handsome either. Half Cuban, which I find interesting.. I went to Cuba illegally with three friends from Seattle, had a terrific time. Gorgeous place. Bezos should buy the island and turn it into best vacay spot in the world.

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