ChatGPT as God? AI bots capable of starting new religions, warns expert

Notable scholar, author and historian Yuval Noah Harari believes that the world is on the verge of getting a new religion that will be completely generated by artificial intelligence. The scholar, widely known for his best-selling books such as Sapiens and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, believes that software like ChatGPT may draw devotees by creating its own sacred texts in the not-so-distant future. **Also read: ChatGPT has excellent ‘Emotional Intelligence,’ often prefers emotions over facts finds researcher** Speaking at a science conference, he stated that AI had “achieved mastery” of our language and was now capable of shaping human society. Harari used the occasion to lend his voice to mounting calls for immediate regulation of the industry, which experts say is in the midst of a “dangerous” arms race. ChatGPT will make cults and sects of its own “In the future, we may see the first cults and sects in history with treasured scriptures created by a non-human intelligence,” he added. “Of course, religions throughout history claimed that their holy books were written by unknown human intelligence. This was never true before. This could become true very, very quickly, with far-reaching consequences,” he added. He cautioned that robots now had the capacity to “cocoon us in a Matrix-like realm of illusions,” referring to the 1999 sci-fi thriller. **Also read: ChatGPT's Horror Story: Redditor asks ChatGPT to write a horror story, AI bot delivers big time** For those who are unaware of The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, the film depicts a dystopian future in which mankind is inadvertently locked inside a virtual world built by clever robots to divert humans while utilising their bodies as a source of energy. AI can influence societies in unimaginable ways “Contrary to what certain conspiracy theories believe, you don’t actually need to implant chips in people’s brains to control or influence them,” he stated. “For thousands of years, prophets, poets, and politicians have utilised language and stories to manipulate and control people while reshaping society,” he added. “AI is now likely to be capable of doing it. And once it can, it won’t have to deploy killer robots to shoot us down. It can get humans to pull the trigger,” he went on to say. “We need to act rapidly before AI gets out of our hands,” he warned, calling for tighter regulation of AI and companies working with AI. “Drug companies cannot sell people new medicines without first subjecting these products to rigorous safety checks.” “Similarly, governments must immediately ban the release into the public domain of any more revolutionary AI tools before they are made safe,” he said. Harari’s advocacy against AI Harari has been a very vocal advocate for those who believe that AI will spell the doom of mankind. He was one of the thousands of dignitaries who had signed an open letter calling for a halt on the development of AI, and asked for regulations before developers are allowed to work further on the technology. **Also read: TruthGPT: What exactly does Elon Musk plan to do with his AI bot that is supposed to rival ChatGPT** Harari shares his fears with tech billionaire Elon Musk, who also is very apprehensive about how quickly AI is developing. Once an initial investor at OpenAI, the people who created ChatGPT, Musk has then gone on to denounce the company’s founder and ChatGPT. Musk is now in the process of creating his own version of ChatGPT that would “only emphasise on the truth.” Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.