No, the World Economic Forum isn’t advocating for AI to rewrite the Bible

Social media posts are claiming the World Economic Forum wants to use artificial intelligence to craft new religions and holy texts.

The claim comes from a June 10 Slay News article headlined, "WEF Calls for AI to Rewrite Bible, Create ‘Religions That Are Actually Correct.’" Slay News describes itself as an "alternative" media company. Other sites have also shared this article and headline.

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The article attributes these remarks to Yuval Noah Harari, which it describes as a "top official" and "senior adviser" at the WEF, an international organization that holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, during which leaders and experts discuss global issues. WEF is often a target of conspiracy theorists; PolitiFact has debunked several claims about it.

However, Harari does not hold a leadership position at the WEF. On the forum’s website, Harari is described as a Hebrew University of Jerusalem history professor, as well as a historian, philosopher and best-selling author. The WEF told Reuters in December that the existence of Harari’s bio on the forum’s website means he attended a WEF event, not that he works for the organization. Harari spoke at WEF’s 2020 annual event, but not about AI rewriting religious texts.

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The Slay News article said Harari made these remarks during a May 19 interview with Pedro Pinto, a Portuguese-American journalist, in Lisbon, Portugal. But the article misconstrues Harari’s words.

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During the interview, Harari and Pinto discussed the future of AI and how it will affect a range of issues, including democracy, politics, education and human connection.

About seven minutes into the interview, Harari talked about how AI is different from any other past technology or invention because AI "can make decisions" and "create new ideas."

"(Johannes) Gutenberg printed the Bible, in the middle of the 15th century. The printing press printed as many copies of the Bible as Gutenberg instructed it, but it did not create a single new page. It had no ideas of its own about the Bible," Harari said. "AI can create new ideas, can even write a new Bible."

"Throughout history, religions dreamt about having a book written by a superhuman intelligence, by a non-human entity. Every religion claims our book — ‘Oh, the books of the other religions, they — humans wrote them, but our book? No, no, no, no, it came from some superhuman intelligence,’" Harari continued. "In a few years, there might be religions that are actually correct. That — just think about a religion whose holy book is written by an AI. That could be a reality in a few years."

Social media posts shared a Slay News article headlined, "WEF Calls for AI to Rewrite Bible, Create ‘Religions That Are Actually Correct.’"

The WEF did not call for this. The article refers to comments made by Harari, who has attended WEF functions but does not hold a leadership position there. The article also misconstrues what Harari said in a recent interview.

Harari was discussing the future of AI and predicted that in a few years, there may be religions whose holy texts were written by AI. He did not advocate for AI to rewrite the Bible, nor did he say AI-crafted religion is "correct."

We rate this claim False.