This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: People are increasingly turning to AI for advice. A 2026 Pew report found that 10% of Americans use chatbots for emotional support or companionship.
Some even find a charismatic leader in AI. More broadly, a large-scale study of 1.1 million ChatGPT conversations found that 49% of the messages involved users seeking "information or advice" to help them be "better informed or make better decisions." Their questions are not just about ordinary practical matters. In 2021, Ask Delphi, an AI-based website to which people could pose ethical or moral questions, received 3 million queries in a few weeks.
The system's designers—researchers at the Allen Institute for AI and the University of Washington—said they did not intend it to be a moral authority but worried that users might see it that way. The Verge, a technology news publication, argued that the name Ask Delphi encouraged users to see the system as an inscrutable source of superior knowledge. It was named after the Delphic oracle, to whom ancient Greeks posed difficult questions.
The oracle was a priestess who entered a trance state to convey answers from Apollo, the Greek god of prophecy. The choice of "Delphi" is suggestive. Throughout history, when societies confront challenging questions, they have turned to sources believed to know more than any ordinary human could.
Oracles, prophets and practices of divination offered guidance from inscrutable or enigmatic sources when ordinary human judgment reached its limits. As an anthropologist interested in religion and an AI researcher interested in chatbots, we are intrigued that the ancient idea of an oracle has resurfaced in discussions about conversational AI. Like ancient oracles, modern AI is increasingly consulted about difficult questions that exceed the judgment or knowledge of any individual—from "Is it OK to lie to protect someone's feelings?" to "Exploding a nuclear bomb to save your child." But the resemblance does not stop there: The processes through which AI arrives at an answer are inscrutable not just to users but also to the designers of these systems.
We argue that this opacity is part of the reason people perceive these systems as having authority. Oracles, whether humans like the priestess at Delphi or techniques like I Ching divination, have appeared in societies from ancient Greece to China and across religious traditions. For example, the Ram Shalaka oracle is based on the Hindu scripture Ramcharitmanas, a 16th-century retelling of the ancient Indian epic Ramayana.
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