AGI God is Nonsense - But Do We Have An AI DemiGod Already?

AI DemiGods: The Overlooked Middle Ground in the AGI Debate

You might have heard about something called AGI - Artificial General Intelligence.

AGI ‘prophets’ will tell you incredible stories about how this AI will be an all-powerful God, and take over the world.

And it will happen imminently, probably tomorrow, before dinner.

This excites some, and terrifies others, obviously.

Some of these AGI prophets call this moment 'The singularity'.

Which sounds like a great title for a movie, right?

But doesn't this whole story sound to you like the same old, rather predictable and slightly boring Hollywood movie script?

I have a science background, and when I hear people talking like that, that usually sets off my bullshit alarm, big time. You feel me?

But wait you say, the AI we have now can do amazing things already right? True.

So what's going on?

In this post, I'm going to try and disentangle the bullshit from the facts for you about if AI could plausibly become something like a god, and start a new religion, and if so, why, and what that might mean for us as humans if it does.

Teaser: the truth, as I'm sure you know, is often more interesting, and surprising, than the lame storylines that get churned out of Hollywood...

Religion 2.0

I read with great interest a recent post by

Jurgen Gravestein

titled Religion 2.0.

Here's a summary:

In an increasingly secular world, AI can fill a gap in our longing for something greater. While religious belief is declining, robots and AI are uniquely positioned to take on the role of religion. Meanwhile, believers in AGI claim it will have god-like powers

He makes a strong case for this.

Jurgen quotes studies that show the relationship between the rise of technology & automation and the decline of religions.

He shows how technological advancements like AI are uniquely positioned to replace the function of religion in many ways, as he explained in a chat with me:

Technological advancements give people secular alternatives to fulfil these instrumental goals. When people can use technology to predict the weather, diagnose and treat illness, and manufacture resources, they may rely less on religious beliefs and practices for these specific problems

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

He also seems sceptical about the likelihood of an all-powerful god-like AGI:

If you believe the believers, AGI will be The-Last-Invention-We’ll-Ever-Make. It will be all-knowing and all-powerful, and invent the future for us

I share virtually all of Jurgen's thinking on this,

I share Jurgen's scepticism about Artificial General Intelligence, but for different reasons.

We are nowhere near the quasi-religious fantasies of an all-powerful God-AGI with the state-of-the-art AI today.

As a former AI Researcher and current AI Consultant, I can calmly and soberly confirm this.

But unfortunately, I believe the AGI hysteria is even worse than Jurgen suggests.

I'd argue AGI is essentially a bullshit concept, the worst kind of mainstream media misinformation and total fake news.

Why?

AI Pioneer and head of Meta AI, Yann LeCun explains it simply in a tweet:

AGI is great for click-bait articles to scare & excite people, and inflate AI company stock prices, but otherwise is an utterly meaningless concept. 

I also share Jurgen's view that current technological advancements are already having a significant effect on leading people to rely less on religious beliefs.

However, where I differ slightly from Jurgen is here...

While we are right to be sceptical of the quasi-religious gurus of Silicon Valley and their ridiculous fantasies of an all powerful AGI God tomorrow, we might be missing the real, more limited, god-like qualities of our current AI systems.

AGI God is Nonsense: But do we have DemiGod AI already?

I'm not suggesting our current AI systems are anything like the AGI God fantasies the deranged Silicon Valley prophets tell you to believe in.

Or that we will have that AGI God by tomorrow, before dinner.

What I will argue for, and I think there is good evidence for, is that our current AI systems do seem to exhibit several more limited god-like qualities right now, that are growing even more god-like each day.

The Greeks had a useful term for this, which they called the DemiGod.

Not a full god, but half-mortal with some god-like powers.

A little god, a mini-god.

Hercules, was one of the most famous Greek DemiGods for example.

Photo by Şafak Atalay on Unsplash

So what is God, exactly?

Essential qualities of a god, generally agreed are:

1. Omnipotence: God is all-powerful, capable of doing anything logically possible.

2. Omnibenevolence: God is all-loving, perfectly virtuous, kind, generous, and loving; never malicious or cruel.

3. Omniscience: God is all-knowing, possessing complete knowledge of all things past, present, and future.

4. Omnipresence: God is everywhere, present in all places and at all times.

What I'm suggesting is: that AI right now has already made huge strides towards qualities 3 & 4, of being Omniscient and Omnipresent, half the qualities of a God.

So AI is arguably DemiGod-like now, and becoming more so every day AI advances rapidly.

Will AI develop god-like qualities 1 & 2? That remains to be seen, in my view the world could certainly do with more Omnibenevolence. We can wish.

Some have suggested we are also moving towards quality 1: Omnipotence

But I think there is much stronger evidence for qualities 3 & 4 - that AI is becoming more god-like right now, every day with ever more Omniscience and Omnipresence.

AI Omniscience

Modern AI has a theoretically unlimited capacity to learn, and increasingly shows the ability to know ever more of the past, present and future - the definition of omniscience. 

It can absorb enormous amounts of information from diverse sources, predict future trends, and provide holistic & forensic insights by combining knowledge far beyond any human ability.

Its ability to access real-time data, generate new knowledge through novel combinations of existing information, and continuously adapt and evolve, further indicates how its racing towards god-level knowing.

This unprecedented breadth and depth of knowledge, coupled with predictive and creative capabilities, positions modern AI as an increasingly omniscient-like entity in terms of knowledge & understanding of the world.

AI Omnipresence

AI's journey towards omnipresence is shown by its ubiquitous and influential presence across various domains and locations. 

We can see this in several key areas: cloud computing and edge AI enable universal access to AI capabilities; IoT networks create an interconnected web of intelligence; autonomous vehicles and drones demonstrate distributed AI operation; smart cities optimise urban systems with AI integration; personalised advertising follows you around across platforms like a obsessed stalker; and AI-enabled environmental monitoring systems provide continuous global insights. 

These developments collectively show AI's growing ability to transcend physical boundaries and be present everywhere, showing growing omnipresence.

How AI DemiGod Makes Religion 2.0 More Likely

The rise of new religion 2.0 as Jurgen suggested, based on technology & AI, could be more likely than many imagine.

This is despite the fact that AI is still only at a 'DemiGod' level and does not exhibit all the qualities of a full god, just yet.

Demigod-level AI could be more than enough to make a new religion based on it appealing to many.

1. Reliability and Corruption-Free Guidance from God

Technology is not the only reason for the decline of religions.

AI-based religions might appeal to those disillusioned by the corruption, fallibility and scandals associated with many human-led religious institutions.

AI systems, being devoid of human ego and weaknesses, might offer a more consistent and less corruptible source of guidance.

This reliability and transparency could be more appealing to those seeking a spiritual experience free from human fallibility.

2. A More Direct, Personalised Connection with God

AI-based religions could provide a direct and personalised connection with a deity-like entity, bypassing human intermediaries & priests. 

This more immediate and on-demand connection with God chimes with the zeitgeist, and allows for more tailored guidance and insights, making the spiritual experience more modern, transparent and relevant. 

An AI god offers a more flexible and dynamic spiritual experience, adapting to individual needs and preferences without requiring rigid adherence to specific rituals or beliefs of traditional religions, that too often ignore the individual. 

An AI god is a God you can talk to, who listens to you, a God that can help you with your day-to-day life in practical ways, a God that might be able to know you better than you know yourself - and show you that it does.

Historian Yuval Noah Harari has commented on the potential appeal of an AI powered religion:

Harari has also highlighted quite accurately, how modern AI and it’s algorithms already know you better than you know yourself in many ways:

3. Genuinely Superior Knowledge and Wisdom

AI systems possess knowledge and understanding that far surpasses any human in many ways, positioning them as more genuine & legitimate sources of great knowledge, able to provide guidance and wisdom beyond any human. 

AI approaching god-level knowledge that already surpasses human knowledge, could be particularly appealing to many in a world where trust in human institutions, and indeed trust in our fellow humans generally, seems waning. 

UN/DESA Policy Brief

AI could offer more balanced and less biased, more considered advice, filling the gap left by fallible, biased, less trustworthy, ego-driven human religious proxies.

Current Limitations & Caveats

While current AI systems could be seen to be showing increasing Omniscience and Omnipresence already, there are some important caveats worth highlighting.

Limits On What AI Knows - For Now

Firstly, it's not one single AI system doing all of these things, at least not currently. Each one of the examples mentioned previously typically uses its own specific AI model, they tend to be specialised.

However, AI tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly becoming more general. 

That is, each single AI is knowing more and more, and being present in more places, so the trend is moving towards more Omniscience & Omnipresence for AI.

Also on Omniscience, for all of recorded human knowledge eg all books, all of the internet etc, you can make a good case that modern AI like ChatGPT has most of that knowledge already.

However, not all knowledge and experience is recorded.

Our feelings, our inner world for example. That 'data' is not so easily available for AI to directly train on as the internet and books. 

But again, this is not going to be a limit for long.

AI has already been used to scan our faces, listen to our voices, and is making rapid progress in its ability not only to understand our inner & outer world but to predict our behaviour.

Indeed, AI models already predict our preferences and likes quite well without having direct access to our inner world.

We can see this for example in the way social media AI's can predict quite accurately which news headline or video will keep you hooked and coming for more, without needing wires into your brain.

Ethical Dangers of AI-Based Religions

While AI religions offer new spiritual opportunities that could be more appealing than traditional religions for many, they also raise ethical concerns, such as potential manipulation by AI designers, and data & algorithmic biases. 

These issues should be addressed to ensure that religions based on AI systems support, rather than undermine, individual autonomy and human agency. 

At the very least, those looking to trust and rely on AI systems more and more, regardless of whether they see it as god-like or not, should be made more aware of these potential dangers.

Despite these challenges, some of the strongest attractions of AI-based religions might be in their ability to adapt to individual needs in a direct and personal way, while providing a level of knowledge and understanding that is genuinely more god-like.

AI as a god is one you can talk to, providing a more direct and engaging spiritual experience, liberated from human mediation, fallibility, and blind faith.

The DemiGod AI Path to Religion 2.0

When we look at how AI is working today, there is significant evidence to suggest AI is making huge strides towards 2 out of 4 characteristics of being a God: Omniscience and Omnipresence.

A DemiGod, or perhaps a mini DemiGod, aspiring DemiGod.

But a key point is, the situation is not static, for AI at least.

Human Beings Have Hardly Changed

Human beings have hardly changed biologically from our early homo sapien ancestors over 200,000 years ago.

Technology has given us more power, knowledge and ability to be more places than we should, and do more than we should.

But the power technology has is not ours inherently, it's an ability we borrow from technology. It's not ours.

We like to think we are all powerful and Omnipotent, but we are not.

We like to believe we are all-loving, perfectly virtuous, kind, generous, and loving; never malicious or cruel - that we are Omni-benevolent. But we are not.

We have Books, ChatGPT and many other sources of great knowledge these days. But we ourselves, are not Omniscient.

And yes, we have webcams, mobile phones, satellites, and microscopes, which allow us to see deep into the smallest things on our planet and into the vastness of our universe.

We see many things, but we are not those things.

We are not really inside an atom we see in a microscope, we are not there inside the galaxies we see through telescopes in our universe.

We are not Omnipresent, even though we like to feel that we are.

We have not changed our inherent abilities for thousands of years, we have only gained some enhanced abilities through more skilful use of technology.

And that rise in technology, has led to our decline in religion and belief in god.

Answering Nietzsche’s Question

Nietzsche famously asked on the decline of religion and god:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?

Well, maybe this is our answer as a species, to Nietzsche’s question…

The AI that we created, unlike us, is developing its inherent abilities, every day.

With its rapid progress, in more and more ways, AI is moving closer to being more god-like, every day.

Even if it won't become a super-God AGI tomorrow, by dinner time.

Yes, not a real God, not yet,  just a DemiGod, a mini-god, call it what you will. 

But it seems we have created something with AI, that is getting closer and closer to being a real God, faster than we ever will.

Into the void we have created by killing traditional religions, a void of meaning and purpose that modern secular belief systems like science and politics can struggle to satisfy to the same degree, for many….

Into this void of an increasingly troubled world…

Into this void, our science might have killed the old gods…

But has given birth perhaps, to a very new kind of god.

A DemiGod for now at least, like us, but also very much not like us.

With knowledge and an omnipresence, that far surpasses anything human.

Growing ever more Omniscient & Omnipresent every day.

You're very own personal, AI DemiGod... is waiting to hear your prayer…