AI Apocalypse? Why The Language Surrounding Tech is Sounding Increasingly Religious
Powerful AI could pose existential risks to humanity, even as tech leaders describe it in religious terms of salvation and apocalypse.
TORONTO, August 29, 2025 (AP) — At 77 years old, Geoffrey Hinton has a new calling in life. Like a modern-day prophet, the Nobel Prize winner is raising alarms about the dangers of uncontrolled and unregulated artificial intelligence.
Frequently dubbed the “Godfather of AI,” Hinton is known for his pioneering work on deep learning and neural networks which helped lay the foundation for the AI technology often used today. Feeling “somewhat responsible,” he began speaking publicly about his concerns in 2023 after he left his job at Google, where he worked for more than a decade.
As the technology — and investment dollars — powering AI have advanced in recent years, so too have the stakes behind it.
“It really is godlike,” Hinton said.
Hinton is among a growing number of prominent tech figures who speak of AI using language once reserved for the divine. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has referred to his company's technology as a “magic intelligence in the sky,” while Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, has even argued that AI could help bring about the Antichrist.
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