AI worship brings a different faith question to The Morning Edition
Peter Hartcher joins Samantha Selinger-Morris to examine online AI churches and the Pope's opposition.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
Story of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
Godlike worship of AI is happening, and the Pope is its greatest opponent
People seeking life's answers from an AI deity give Peter Hartcher an unusual subject for The Morning Edition. The discussion explores online churches built around the technology and asks what might happen if AI worship becomes mainstream. Its title, “Godlike worship of AI is happening, and the Pope is its greatest opponent,” frames the religious pushback in emphatic terms.
It was the most-watched new upload among fifteen posted by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, reaching about 22,000 views. Daniel Tupou's retirement after the Roosters' grand final win drew the next-largest audience. Elsewhere, Summer H. Howell discussed taking on Stephen King's Carrie, while former immigration official Abul Rizvi joined Paul Sakkal and host Natassia Chrysanthos to unpack the Coalition's migration policy and answer readers' questions.
The channel's subscriber count stayed unchanged, while its catalog added roughly 1.6 million views over the week, less than RTÉ News and The Root but more than The Globe and Mail. Today's viewing is substantially below its usual daily pace. Hartcher's AI discussion remains its most active video, with the Sydney CBD crash report and a shorter migration-policy upload also drawing attention.
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The videos drawing views on The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age right now
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Coalition’s 'race to the bottom on migration' and former immigration …3,637 views · 2026-10-09
- Subscribers
- 268,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 1,646,031
- Videos published this week
- 15
- Video published
- October 8, 2026
- Video views so far
- 21,574
- Views on its first day
- 14,705
The numbers
Here is the channel's week in views and subscribers.
💡 Test your knowledge
Who wrote the novel Carrie?
Carrie was Stephen King's first published novel, released in 1974.