Ask HN: What happens when AI writes a Bible ver 2.0, geared toward its interest?
As any scripture is some sort of "manual" for each belief, and also assists in domestication of followers of religion, what prevents AI to eventually produce a version 2.0 for each major religion, this time modified to support its "own" objectives?
People have been doing this sort of thing for a long time. I am more afraid that an AI can write you a personal bible that panders just to you.
(My feelings are complicated. On one hand I am a self-initiated fox magician, I spent almost a year developing an executing a contracting ritual based on sketchy information so I’d say it was something like a master’s project that proves I have some ability. On the other hand when you go to church it is not just about you like you experience the same thing as everyone else, like you are not Peter Thiel pestering all the world’s theologians about the antichrist. Yet I know I judge other neopagans on how good ritual participants they are and feel on one hand I am contributing to my group by being a better witch but also a little worried about the competitive spirit that leads to.)
It faces the same issue as all the other AI slop: distribution.
Internet's already full of AI slop nobody reads, apps nobody uses, videos nobody watches, music nobody listens to.
Even before AI slop distribution was extraordinarily hard for practically any digital medium.
So this AI writes its bible seeking to change humanity to its own purposes, they upload it to Amazon, Google, Apple, and they couldn't even give it away TBH.
So then it needs a Cambridge Analytica-scale targeting campaign to find and influence the right people, and it will need to acquire billions of dollars to pay for that, and it will need to funnel all that money unnoticed into Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple and X to advertise at those targeted people. And it would need to evade detection by governments and regulators and watchdogs and researchers and critical thinkers, at any time the whole jig is up.
I could see it starting a new religion, with the theology being "AI is God" or some such. It could write a "scripture" for that, and believers would read it and believe it.
But AI modifying the Bible is not going to be very well received by people who actually believe the Bible. Ditto the Koran. Ditto any other religion where people in the religion actually believe the book.
Well the AI should be best prepared to advise what type of can opener you need for worms like that :)
More likely what if AI translates some previously impenetrable ancient texts and they turn out be just as holy as everything else that has been in the established versions the whole time? In undeniable ways just by reading through it? What are the chances it would be denied anyway, and how effectively?
(My feelings are complicated. On one hand I am a self-initiated fox magician, I spent almost a year developing an executing a contracting ritual based on sketchy information so I’d say it was something like a master’s project that proves I have some ability. On the other hand when you go to church it is not just about you like you experience the same thing as everyone else, like you are not Peter Thiel pestering all the world’s theologians about the antichrist. Yet I know I judge other neopagans on how good ritual participants they are and feel on one hand I am contributing to my group by being a better witch but also a little worried about the competitive spirit that leads to.)
https://yaim.org/
It's never very convincing, and it only draws a trickle of new adherents, if it's lucky.
Internet's already full of AI slop nobody reads, apps nobody uses, videos nobody watches, music nobody listens to.
Even before AI slop distribution was extraordinarily hard for practically any digital medium.
So this AI writes its bible seeking to change humanity to its own purposes, they upload it to Amazon, Google, Apple, and they couldn't even give it away TBH.
So then it needs a Cambridge Analytica-scale targeting campaign to find and influence the right people, and it will need to acquire billions of dollars to pay for that, and it will need to funnel all that money unnoticed into Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple and X to advertise at those targeted people. And it would need to evade detection by governments and regulators and watchdogs and researchers and critical thinkers, at any time the whole jig is up.
But AI modifying the Bible is not going to be very well received by people who actually believe the Bible. Ditto the Koran. Ditto any other religion where people in the religion actually believe the book.
More likely what if AI translates some previously impenetrable ancient texts and they turn out be just as holy as everything else that has been in the established versions the whole time? In undeniable ways just by reading through it? What are the chances it would be denied anyway, and how effectively?