The claim that Bill Gates called for a one world religion is false.

The claim appears to originate from comments Gates made during an episode of the Possible podcast with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. In the conversation, Gates discussed how advances in artificial intelligence could radically change the way people spend their time and interact with technology.

Near the end of the podcast, Gates said that the potential positive effects of technological progress could force humanity to rethink how it uses its time. He added that this could “almost” be called “a new religion or a new philosophy” focused on staying connected with one another rather than becoming addicted to technology.

Gates was not proposing the creation of a single global religion. He was discussing how society might respond to a future in which technology becomes extremely attractive and capable of taking up much of people’s time.

The full podcast transcript shows that Gates’ comment was about maintaining human connections in the face of increasingly powerful technology. He did not call for the abolition of existing religions, the establishment of a one world religion, or the worship of artificial intelligence.

Fact-checkers at Factchequeado examined the same claim and found it false. They identified Gates’ reference to religion in the podcast and noted that it was made in the context of rethinking how people use their time as technology develops.

The original statement was therefore taken out of context and presented as a proposal for a new global religion, which is not what Gates said.

Verdict: False.

Sources:

• Possible – Bill Gates
• Factchequeado
• Chequeado