AI is becoming so powerful that it has become a quasi-religious movement among many in Sillicon Valley, and Bill Gates has commented that it could require the creation of a new religion, but an Indian spiritual leader believes that India will readily accept AI as yet another form of god in its culture.
“Some people are referring to AI as the new God,” an interviewer asked Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who is a yogi and mystic with large following in South India. “Is there going to be a conflict between the old god and the new god?” she continued.
“No, not in India,” Sadhguru replied. ”In India, if you like this chair, if you go and bow down to it, nobody will think there’s anything wrong with that. There’s a rock in your garden, you go and bow down to it, people think, oh she’s a rock-worshipper,” as the crowd giggled.
“This is the beauty of this civilization. Tree, rock, cloud, empty sky, whatever — we bow down. This is because you can’t be sitting here without the source of creation functioning within you, isn’t it? So in this country, in this civilization, a new God is never a problem because we saw them as entities. We know how to make shapes and forms, energize them in such a way, they become a new possibility. If AI is the new God, I have no problem,” he added.
Sadhguru seemed to be referring to the pluralistic nature of the Hindu tradition, which not only has thousands of gods and deities, but is also uniquely accepting of other religions and faiths. Hinduism believes that there’s one true reality, and it can be worshipped in many forms. This has led to India being the cradle of several of the world’s most prominent religions, including Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In addition, India has been home to groups of Christians, Jews and Muslims for over 1500 years, with the larger Hindu community having no opposition to the new gods that these people brought with them.
In this scheme of things, if AI does end up being worshipped as a God, it would fit neatly into the Hindu way of thought. There are plenty of indications that AI could be heading in that direction — journalist Karen Hao, who has covered AI in Silicon Valley, has said that AGI has become a quasi-religious movement among those building it. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said that the emergence of AI could necessitate the creation of a new religion. “The potential positive path (of AI) is so good that it will force us to rethink how should we use our time. You can almost call it a new religion or a new philosophy of how do we stay connected with each other, and not be addicted to these things that will make video games look like nothing in terms of the attractiveness of spending time on them,” he has said. And if AI does indeed become infinitely powerful and uncovers many of the mysteries of the universe, it could require a rethink of major world religions and the beliefs they espouse.