Future Technology as Comfort: Promising Tales About AI

The topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) encounters audiences that are open to narratives of the future that have a promising character. They exist in the form of utopian stories of progress, political-normative models, but also as visions of AI creators, in the form of media reports or as fictional representations. Promise narratives represent horizons of expectation and hopes for the future between promises of technology and faith in technology. In the context of AI, a return of the longing for salvation in the guise of substitute religions can be observed from a sociological perspective. Promising narratives about AI generate euphoria about the future, which can be categorized as a ritual of consolation. Techno-promises take the place of religious experiences. In short: In societies that are latently characterized by fear of the future, promising future narratives act as a substitute for consolation.