Robots/AIs worshipped by humans as gods

Clockworkbot

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I was thinking about the topic in the subject line, and was thinking that whilst it seems like a fairly obvious and familiar idea for sci-fi to explore, I couldn't actually call to mind any stories or books that have this as a major plot. Does anyone else know of examples? I can think of stories that have Godlike AIs, like Harlan Ellison's 'I have no mouth and I must scream' and 'Sea of Rust', but not any where they are actually considered to be Gods...
 
Me neither.

There are the culture novels but they aren't revered as Gods.
There was that one Futurama episode where the planet of the Amazons is ruled by a fembot pretending to be a femputer that they worship.

Maybe humans have a problem with envisioning our creations as deities :)
 
Kuldesak by Richard Cowper.
The AI rules the underground cities, even the grill speakers where it communicates with people are called 'Godholes'
 
There's at least one or two Startrek Original series episodes with this theme.


Also in the Warhammer 40K setting the understanding of technology is, somewhat different to how it is today. The Imperium (human) forces have basically very little idea how much of their ancient technology works and machines are regularly said to have a "Machine Spirit." With the vast foundry worlds, like Mars, having the Adepticus Mechanicus, who basically do worship the Machine God. Much of it is modern tech given spiritual names - so holey oils might be giving it an oil change; the machine god might be some form of AI (not actual AI nor acknowledged as such since AI is outlawed*). So in a way machines, rather than AI is worshipped.

To the Ad Mech and many of their ilk machines are holy and there is a Machine God. Even though they also pay homage to the Emperor - the God of Mankind. Who sits upon his Golden Throne at the heart of the Imperium (Terra) in a state of perpetual coma; his powers used to help run what is basically a huge lighthouse which allows their ships (and those of other races) to navigate through what is basically a hell dimension - which is how they achieve faster than light travel. The cost for this is a simple sacrifice of around 1000 psychically sensitive people a day.


*machine thinking and processing is done by servitors which are basically human skulls with the brain intact; the memories wiped and the mind used to process and perform calculations. Basically cyborg slaves.
 
There's the Colossus books.

Colossus (made into the movie Colossus the Forbin Project)

The Fall of Colossus

Colossus and the Crab.
 
The Dune prequel books starting with The Butlerian Jihad, deals with that type of thing. The AI's sort of seem to thing they're gods.
 
Frank Herbert wrote a series on this premise, starting with Destination Void.
 
Ada Hofman, The Outside (OK, but not great)

Al Robertson, Crashing Heaven (great stuff!)
 
Not quite fit in the description, but I have two suggestions:

William Gibson, The Sprawl trilogy, with the cyberspace dwelling Loa - AI's.
and definitely
Roger Zelazny & Jane Lindskold, Donnerjack, or as Zelazny initially planned to name one of parts - The Gods of Virtu
 
Thanks all, some great shouts - nothing I was familiar with but a lot of interesting sounding stuff. Will do some further research...
 

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