Geoff Shullenberger argues in a Washington Post opinion column that the AI industry has taken on increasingly religious and theological characteristics since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. He contrasts today’s mood with the secular optimism of mid-20th-century AI pioneers, noting that Silicon Valley has produced a landscape of prophecies, heresies, and would-be messiahs around the technology. Shullenberger contends that major AI companies are now pursuing quasi-theological ambitions alongside their technical work, comparing the scene to a modern “burned-over district.”
