In Claude We Trust: Can 'God' save frontier models?
This column explores the intersection of spirituality and artificial intelligence, referencing a viral video of a Swami discussing Anthropic. It critiques how tech companies seek 'divine' legitimacy for their frontier models while drawing parallels to historical power structures.
Why it matters
It highlights the philosophical and cultural scrutiny surrounding the rapid development of AI and the corporate branding strategies of major AI labs.
A video went viral a couple of weeks ago of Swami Sarvapriyananda, the Swami and Minister-in-Charge of the Vedanta Society of New York, in which he speaks about his tryst with Anthropic. Popularly known as ‘YouTube Swami’ for his freewheeling style, he said that while his discussion was shrouded in secrecy because of an NDA they had signed, much of what was discussed turned up in an encyclical released by Pope Leo. That truly showcases that even in 2026 AD, the Christian tradition of re-purposing pagan ideas – like morphing Saturnalia into Christmas – continues unabated.Jokes apart, artificial intelligence (or the dangers of it) did make numerous appearances in the Pope’s encyclical – a long Substack post the Pontifex writes – where he compared it with the Tower of Babel, a Biblical symbol of humanity’s hubris in thinking it could reach heaven.Now, so far, in previous columns, we have discussed…
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in