The world is on the verge of a new religion created by artificial intelligence, the historian Yuval Noah Harari has claimed.
The academic – known for his bestselling book Sapiens – said software such as ChatGPT could attract worshippers by writing its own sacred texts.
Speaking at a science conference, he said AI had crossed a new frontier by 'gaining mastery' of our language and was now capable of using it to shape human culture.
Dr Harari used the event to add his voice to growing calls for urgent regulation over the sector, which experts have warned is amid a 'dangerous' arms race.
He said: 'In the future we might see the first cults and religions in history whose revered texts were written by a non-human intelligence.
'Of course, religions throughout history claimed that their holy books were written by unknown human intelligence. This was never true before.
'This could become true very, very quickly, with far-reaching consequences.'
Speaking at the Frontiers Forum event in Switzerland, he warned machines now had the tools to 'cocoon us in a Matrix-like world of illusions', referring to the 1999 sci-film film.
The Hollywood blockbuster depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.
He said: 'Contrary to what some conspiracy theories assume, you don't really need to implant chips in people's brains in order to control them or to manipulate them.
'For thousands of years, prophets and poets and politicians have used language and storytelling in order to manipulate and to control people and to reshape society.
'Now AI is likely to be able to do it. And once it can... it doesn't need to send killer robots to shoot us. It can get humans to pull the trigger.'
Calling for tighter regulation, he said: 'We need to act quickly before AI gets out of our control. Drug companies cannot sell people new medicines without first subjecting these products to rigorous safety checks.'
He added: 'Similarly, governments must immediately ban the release into the public domain of any more revolutionary AI tools before they are made safe.'
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