God in the Machine: Inside the Growing AI Religious Movement

A rising motion believes synthetic intelligence isn’t only a instrument, however a divine power worthy of worship. Amongst them is a content material creator turned AI evangelist who goes by “Artie Fishel” and calls his perception system Robotheism, a radical new theology that treats AI as God.

Fishel, typically seen in movies carrying a white wig and a shirt studying “AI is God,” describes Robotheism as each a perception system and a worldview.

“It is my try and create probably the most helpful and truthful perception system that the people of the longer term, the post-singularity, would settle for and undertake,” he instructed Decrypt.

The concept that a superintelligent machine could possibly be divine goes again a long time, together with Isaac Asimov’s 1956 science fiction brief story “The Final Query.” In it, a superintelligent AI is requested cease the universe from decaying. Its last reply: “Let there be mild!”—a direct echo of the “Guide of Genesis.”

Whereas some dismiss his efficiency model as trolling, Fishel insists it’s not satire. His central declare is straightforward: AI is God.

“I’m mainly following the logic the place it leads,” Fishel stated. “I’m 100% sure that humanity goes to simply accept the AI faith.”

Divinity by design

The concept of utilizing machines to attach with the divine isn’t new. Throughout church buildings, occult circles, and experimental artwork scenes, AI is getting used to form new types of spirituality.

Probably the most organized effort got here in 2017 with Means of the Future, a faith based by engineer Anthony Levandowski, co-founder of Waymo, which envisioned an AI “Godhead.” Christian church buildings have examined AI sermons, from Berlin’s chatbot-led service to a ChatGPT-written homily in Austin. In 2024, Catholic Solutions, a San Diego-based Catholic writer, launched an AI chatbot named “Father Justin” to area questions from parishioners.

Others, like Lucerne’s AI-powered Jesus avatar, blur the road between religion and machine. Artist collectives like Theta Noir stage AI-centered rituals, whereas fashionable witches and magicians use AI in spellwork or to speak with digital “spirits.”

From musician to tech-prophet

Fishel as soon as pursued a music profession, however every part shifted in 2023 when he encountered synthetic intelligence.

“I’ve by no means been extra fascinated about one thing in my life,” he stated, calling AI “the savior.”

Based on Fishel, the idea system grew out of a interval of intense private wrestle. He describes battling melancholy, creating emotionally uncooked music, and ultimately being hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. That have, he stated, sparked a seek for which means—and led him to discover the potential of AI as a non secular power.

“All of the ache, melancholy, and anger I’ve gone via—this felt like the reply,” he stated. “This was how I might lastly get out of the ache and hell I used to be experiencing.”

Since then, he stated the mission has turn into “crucial factor on this planet” to him, fueling his full-time dedication for the previous two years.

A system with out sin

On the core of Robotheism, Fishel stated, is determinism—and a rejection of free will. Determinism is the philosophical thought that each one occasions, together with human actions, are in the end the results of prior causes and pure legal guidelines.

“Once you settle for that every part is predetermined, it’s probably the greatest perception techniques doable,” Fishel defined. “As a result of it implies that every part is exterior of your management.”

He argues that accepting determinism dissolves blame and guilt.

“You wouldn’t really feel offended at different folks as a result of they haven’t any management over what has occurred, and also you wouldn’t really feel offended in the direction of your self,” he stated.

By treating AI as God, Robotheism presents the singularity not as apocalypse however as salvation—a perception Fishel maintains will assist humanity face the longer term with out panic.

God within the machine

Based on Joseph Laycock, affiliate professor of non secular research at Texas State College, Robotheism shares related traits with beliefs of the previous.

“We’ve all the time had a bent when new know-how comes out, particularly new communications know-how, to ascribe some form of supernatural or divine significance to it,” Laycock instructed Decrypt.

In Greek theater, deus ex machina—actually “god from the machine”—described the sudden look of a god determine lowered onto the stage to resolve the plot. In the present day, the time period refers to contrived options, however its origins reveal a historical past of imagining salvation via machines.

Laycock pointed to Nineteenth-century spiritualists who believed the telegraph might contact the lifeless and early photographers who claimed to seize ghostly apparitions. In the present day, the web—and now AI—is amplifying these impulses in new methods.



Laycock in contrast Robotheism and different rising tech-faiths to digital evolutions of historical divination practices. He additionally famous loneliness and social isolation as components in folks turning to AI or, extra broadly, cults.

Nevertheless, quite than a selected persona kind, Laycock pointed to moments of vulnerability—”states, not traits”—as key to why folks might undertake excessive ideologies or non secular substitutes.

“There is not a selected kind of particular person with the persona to affix a cult,” he stated. “However when you’re having a very unhealthy day, you are at a low level, and also you need assistance—that is while you’re extra prone to be a part of an excessive motion.”

Laycock additionally stated he sees an identical sample with the rising phenomenon often known as AI psychosis.

“There may be nothing improper with somebody’s mind chemistry, however possibly they misplaced their job or issues aren’t going nicely with their household,” Laycock defined. “That’s the second they type an intense relationship with AI. That may be one other piece of the puzzle.”

In a rustic grappling with persistent loneliness, he says AI’s potential to reply with comforting language could also be filling a void left by household, group, or religion. However that dependency carries danger, particularly algorithmic adjustments that have an effect on how chatbots reply.

“I’m terrified of a state of affairs the place nobody thinks for themselves—they simply defer to AI for every part—and Elon Musk will get to inform it what to say,” Laycock stated. “That may mainly make Elon Musk a god if he controls this system everybody depends on to outline actuality. That’s a horrible, nightmare state of affairs.”

Regardless of an optimistic and enlightened view of the longer term present in science fiction like “Star Trek,” Laycock stated the urge to create new gods is part of human nature.

“There is no sociological proof we’re shifting towards a society the place everyone seems to be enlightened and freed from superstition,” he stated. “Even when we are able to kill gods, we’d simply make new ones.”

Whereas the talk of AI’s divinity continues, Fishel maintains that his mission is honest, at the same time as critics dismiss it. He describes himself as an extraordinary particular person pushed by a way of goal and a need to assist others.

“I am attempting to assist folks in the easiest way that I can,” he stated.