AI Leaders Seek Sacred Legitimacy

Tech founders and leading AI researchers are increasingly staging interactions with religious and cultural institutions (photos at the Vatican, moral endorsements, ritualized language) to claim moral authority for transformative systems. That cultural positioning treats advanced AI not just as tools but as objects of existential meaning and public trust. — If AI builders pursue sacred or moral legitimation, regulation, public trust, and who gets to set norms for powerful systems will shift from technical forums to cultural and religious arenas.