OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has warned that treating artificial intelligence (AI) models as sources of religious authority or surrendering human judgement to them poses a safety risk. His comments highlight concerns about the influence chatbots could have when people turn to technology for guidance on faith, personal values, and spiritual questions.
In a post on X on 3 October 2026, Altman wrote: 'I am very uncomfortable about people trying to ascribe religious force or a surrender of human judgment to AI models, and think it is a real safety issue.' Altman did not identify a specific company, religious organisation or incident in his post. Nor did he suggest that every use of AI to explore religious questions amounts to surrendering human judgement.
