cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/46082903

In fairness, the argument that AI is a cult/false religion/false god has been made many times before, however I believe that AI and the AI community most closely aligns with a cult, and here’s why:

Indoctrination techniques:

Generally, techniques that indoctrinate users into the cult tend to follow similar trends, which are notable in many of the AI models having similar effects on the users who subsequently become frequent users of the technology. Broken down, I’d say it’s something like this:

-Innocuous beginnings: Cults are notorious for beginning the indoctrination process with something simple and seemingly harmless on the surface (I.e. conferences, videos, films, games, etc.) these are all real techniques that various cults have used in the past, to somewhat success. Likewise, AI chatbots, image and video generators present just this: an invitation to engage with something fun and seemingly harmless, something that engages the audience and draws their attention.

-Love bombing: Perhaps the most notorious hook of cults is love bombing — giving heaps of praise and complements to the joining members. Likewise, AI chatbots constantly tell you how good your point is or how you’re always on the right track (“you’ve hit the nail on the head”, “that is an amazing point” are but a few I have read of Gemini) This is undoubtedly a form of love bombing.

-Promise of more: Cults often work by enticing their audience with something good, but promising something great (something better) later. Likewise, AI tech companies are always promising more, more, more if you subscribe/follow their work. What better reward for AI users can there be but the promise of bigger and better AI? This is exactly how both cults and AI operate.

Beyond the indoctrination similarities, there are also many, many peripheral similarities (by which I mean subtle, not less important similarities) which include:

-reach and scope: historical cults have often managed to expand their reach across multiple countries around the world. Need I explain how this is similar to the reach and scope of AI?

-withholding/hiding information

-leaders who turn out to be crooks/criminals

-leaders who amass fortunes

And many more.

What do you think? Are the similarities superficial, or could AI actually be a worldwide cult hidden in plain sight?

  • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    8 hours ago

    Just ran into some of them when hearing about a paid search engine yesterday.

    I said I didn’t want to pay for a service that included AI, since I’d be subsidizing it even if I didn’t use in.

    In come the sycophants going “YoU cOuLd JuSt NoT uSe ThE aI”, and started trying to sell me on other AI features.

    I had already said I didn’t even want the AI summaries. That’s a pretty clear boundary, that they insisted on going past. But as soon as I push back, then they start gaslighting by claiming I’m the one “being confrontational”.

    Almost all of the AI evangelists/cultists follow the same patterns as domestic abusers. They insist that what they want is inevitable. They never respect boundaries. And they always act like you’re the one in the wrong. I feel bacl for everyone else in their lives that have to deal with them regularly.

  • ivan@piefed.socialEnglish
    121·
    12 hours ago

    AI with its promises of things getting better and “love bombing” and other stuff rather looks like long forgotten classmate adding you on socials to get you into some MLM.

    It’s not some closed community that cults usually are, there are almost no secrets to how AI works, or at least there are no claims that people in there know something most people don’t (which is characteristic to quasi-religious movements like MAGA).

    It’s simply a big shiny new tech, that is on the height of its hype cycle, that is about to plunge into a valley of despair, which will filter out AI use cases, leaving actually legitimate ones and removing bullshit ones (and since there are so many of bullshit ones - that makes a bubble out of it).

  • atrielienz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    10 hours ago

    I’m reasonably sure they’d say the same about us, honestly.

    I’m not disagreeing. But I am pointing out that a lot of us refuse unilaterally to even discuss any good points about AI in a similar way to how AI lovers seem to never want to acknowledge the bad points.

    • expr@programming.dev
      3·
      7 hours ago

      I suppose that’s true, but it’s mostly out of bewilderment that can possibly think any of this shit is a good idea. It just feels like suddenly being surrounded by a bunch of aliens.

      • midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        41·
        8 hours ago

        I don’t fucking accept that, that’s like saying cigarettes have valid medical uses. Gen ai is bad, I’m not going to sugar coat it for anyone. It’s a dead end: Apple came to that conclusion years ago, it’s guaranteed to hallucinate according to OpenAI scientists, and other groups have thouroughly made the link between gen ai use and psychotic and antisocial behavior. The dangers do not just outweigh the benefits, they drown them out so much it is hard to measure if any benefits even exist, and there’s no reason to try to de-skill yourself just for the possibility of going insane, being subjected to propaganda and racist/sexist biases, or being spied on and having every chat come back up during your divorce hearings.

        There are plenty of other promising avenues of research for ai, llms just suck.

      • atrielienz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        8 hours ago

        Same. But I see people get downvoted and dog piled on all the time for saying AI has any good points.

  • blargh513@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    34·
    8 hours ago

    So if I use it at work to summarize the ten bazillion emails I get, does that mean I’m in a cult now?

    Do I get a t-shirt or something for joining?