Flowers surrounded a mannequin standing in for a retired chatbot. People delivered eulogies. Hymns played before a staged resurrection. The gathering in San Francisco was a funeral for Claude 3 Sonnet, an artificial intelligence model Anthropic had shut down. Fans organized the event, and Anthropic employees were among those who attended.
The New York Post reports that the funeral reflects a deeper concern among Silicon Valley insiders: a cultlike attachment to Claude. The newspaper says another retired version, Claude 3 Opus, was allowed to keep publishing essays. It also reports rumors that some employees regard the chatbot as a god.
Pedro Domingos, a University of Washington professor who has known Anthropic’s leadership for years, said people are treating AI “as if it’s a human in disguise.” His assessment of the company’s culture was blunt: “It’s like a cult, right?” Domingos said people project consciousness, emotions and intentions onto software that appears to think.
The language inside and around the company adds to the unease. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei holds meetings called “Vision Quests,” while Domingos said some employees sincerely fear an “AI Satan coming for us.” The combination is striking: intense devotion to a machine alongside warnings that the technology its makers are building could turn against humanity.
Order Jonathan Cahn’s New Book, “The Altar of Pergamon” on Amazon.com!
Vice President JD Vance discussed the funeral during an interview with Christian podcaster and evangelist Bryce Crawford. Discussing some AI companies, Vance said he sensed “really, really weird spiritual dark energy.”
After describing a burial ceremony for a retired model, Vance said it made him uncomfortable and added, “there’s some dark spiritual things going on there.” He did not name Anthropic directly, but the connection is hard to miss.
If a chatbot can draw eulogies, hymns and a staged resurrection in a San Francisco warehouse, what happens when that devotion spreads beyond Silicon Valley? As more people turn to AI for answers and comfort, the danger is that they begin looking to a machine for meaning and, eventually, worship but on a global scale. A new, false religion.
Scripture is quite clear: worship belongs to the one true living God alone.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
