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Artificial Religion
  • Published: 12 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9780262052214
  • Imprint: MIT Press Academic
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 210
  • RRP: $70.00
Categories:

Artificial Religion

On AI, Myth, and Power

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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.
  • Published: 12 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9780262052214
  • Imprint: MIT Press Academic
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 210
  • RRP: $70.00
Categories:

Also by Mark Coeckelbergh

Robot Ethics
AI Ethics
New Romantic Cyborgs
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Praise for Artificial Religion

“An essential read at this watershed moment. Coeckelbergh skilfully shows how the erosion of democratic values is extremely dangerous for us all. Enlightening, thought-provoking, and passionate.” -- Ivana Bartoletti, Global Chief Privacy Officer at Wipro, Visiting Fellow at Virginia Tech, and founder of the Women Leading in AI network “Coeckelbergh masterfully shows why the present trajectory of AI is bad for humanity, but also how we can nudge it onto a more democratic course.” -- Wendell Wallach, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs “…the book offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking analysis of the interplay between AI and democracy. …[serving] as a welcome contribution to the discourse on AI and democracy, offering a broad overview and a call to action.” -- Jan C. Bentz, Blackfriars Oxford University, Centre for Enterprise Markets and Ethics “Mark Coeckelbergh's illuminating book comes at a critical time to inform readers about the complex relationship between AI and democracy.” -- Mahmoud Javadi, International Affairs