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    Artificial Religion

    On AI, Myth, and Power

    Author Mark Coeckelbergh
    Ebook (EPUB)
    The MIT Press
    On sale Apr 14, 2026 | 210 Pages | 9780262052238
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    How AI is shaped by Western religious culture and universal existential aspirations—and why we think we need it in the first place.

    Artificial Religion argues that to fully understand our puzzling relation to AI, we must first look at the religious and existential background of our thinking about machines. Mapping some surprising connections between our history of thought about machines and Western religious narratives to political issues and existential human needs and aspirations, Mark Coeckelbergh offers a better understanding of our relationship to machines and why we think we need them at all.

    The book is unique in not just discussing the myth of AI in terms of its technical limitations and the power of Big Tech but also revealing the deeper cultural “grammar” of AI—that is, the religious patterns of thinking and existential aspirations that are often not visible but still haunt Western thinking and shape its technological culture. Moreover, this is done in a way that sheds critical light on the power of AI.
    Mark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna and ERA Chair at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Growing Moral Relations, New Romantic Cyborgs, AI Ethics, Robot Ethics, The Political Philosophy of AI, and Why AI Undermines Democracy and What to Do About It.
    Mark Coeckelbergh View titles by Mark Coeckelbergh
    Contents
    Preface: Impolite but urgent conversations
    1. Introduction: The birth of machines out of the spirit of religion
    2. Serve me: Warriors and slaves for the gods
    3. Do not abandon me: Of creatures and creators
    4. Make me wonder: The magic of automata and Aladdin’s lamp
    5. Talk to me: Prayers, priests, and chatbots
    6. Foretell the future: Oracles, prophets, saviours, and the AI apocalypse
    7. Let me live forever: Gilgamesh, resurrection, and immortality machines
    8. Conclusion: Deus Ex Machina, or Why we (think we) need machines

    About

    How AI is shaped by Western religious culture and universal existential aspirations—and why we think we need it in the first place.

    Artificial Religion argues that to fully understand our puzzling relation to AI, we must first look at the religious and existential background of our thinking about machines. Mapping some surprising connections between our history of thought about machines and Western religious narratives to political issues and existential human needs and aspirations, Mark Coeckelbergh offers a better understanding of our relationship to machines and why we think we need them at all.

    The book is unique in not just discussing the myth of AI in terms of its technical limitations and the power of Big Tech but also revealing the deeper cultural “grammar” of AI—that is, the religious patterns of thinking and existential aspirations that are often not visible but still haunt Western thinking and shape its technological culture. Moreover, this is done in a way that sheds critical light on the power of AI.

    Author

    Mark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna and ERA Chair at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Growing Moral Relations, New Romantic Cyborgs, AI Ethics, Robot Ethics, The Political Philosophy of AI, and Why AI Undermines Democracy and What to Do About It.
    Mark Coeckelbergh View titles by Mark Coeckelbergh

    Table of Contents

    Contents
    Preface: Impolite but urgent conversations
    1. Introduction: The birth of machines out of the spirit of religion
    2. Serve me: Warriors and slaves for the gods
    3. Do not abandon me: Of creatures and creators
    4. Make me wonder: The magic of automata and Aladdin’s lamp
    5. Talk to me: Prayers, priests, and chatbots
    6. Foretell the future: Oracles, prophets, saviours, and the AI apocalypse
    7. Let me live forever: Gilgamesh, resurrection, and immortality machines
    8. Conclusion: Deus Ex Machina, or Why we (think we) need machines

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