The Making of AGI Authoritarianism: The Techno-Religious Deepening of Silicon Valley.

Authoritarianism is changing shape in digital times. New AI technologies are not merely employed by authoritarian regimes; their development and the corporate actors behind them may also embody or reproduce authoritarian tendencies. This study examines how the corporate discourse on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) intersects with authoritarian imaginaries, giving rise to what we dub ‘AGI authoritarianism’. Drawing on a visual-textual document analysis of frontstage AGI rhetoric from leading tech companies, we examine how these companies envision an AGI-enabled future. Our analysis reveals a latent authoritarian discourse around AGI built around three recurring tropes: self-declared heroism, inevitabilism and techno-optimism. To understand how this discourse acquires legitimacy, we argue that AGI authoritarianism latches onto Silicon Valley’s longstanding history of techno- religious thought, through which authoritarian tendencies can be subtly and credibly imported in contemporary technological imaginaries. Left unexamined in public, political and scientific debate, these discursive workings may further entrench authoritarian visions of AI and constrain the imagination of alternative technological futures.