Gods of Data

AI systems have become the deities of the information age. Not in the sense that they are supernatural or worshipped, but in the sense that, like all gods, they personify the accumulated power of society over the individual, the past over the present: Just like the primordial totemic gods synthesized the mana of the tribe into a unified agency, today’s AI systems synthesize data into what is experienced as an extra-human force. In his forthcoming book, philosopher and AI ethicist Carl Öhman elaborates on technical symmetry between AI systems and divinity, but also shows how the ancient tradition of religious critique can help us understand the spiritual dangers posed by our “new” systems. By applying the religious philosophy of thinkers such as Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche to burgeoning AI applications like parenting coaches, romantic matchmakers, and political chatbots, Öhman explores how modern AI systems cultivate a new form of spiritual corruption: like immaculate gods, AI can improve our lives in countless ways, but only at a profound cost—they may no longer be our lives.

 

Carl Öhman is an associate professor of political science at Uppsala University, Sweden. His research focuses on AI and social/political theory, but also draws on anthropology, comparative literature, and media studies. He is the author of The Afterlife of Data (Chicago, 2024), listed among the best books of 2024 in Nature, The Guardian, and The Economist, and of the forthcoming Gods of Data: An Atheist Critique of AI (also with Chicago).

 

The event is part of the Seminar Series “Platform Politics and Policy”.

Researchers from outside the WZB who would like to attend may email the organizer, robert.gorwa [at] wzb.eu, to be put onto the seminar series mailing list.