AI as the new Delphic Oracle?

For more than a thousand years the Oracle of Delphi sat on a stool at the ‘navel of the universe.’ Under a mystical trance, she would offer cryptic predictions of the future. People would wait months, even years, for their chance to ask the Oracle for guidance on matters ranging from reproductive challenges, to family tiffs to when and how to wage war.

While the ritual around her remains shrouded in mystery, her predictions were – strangely – always right. Today our urge to predict the future mirrors the same psychological need that drove leaders to the Oracle at Delphi -- discomfort with uncertainty and deep seeded desire to control the unpredictable.