Configuration of the God archetype in Abdón Ubidia’s Proyecto Dios: A semiological analysis of narrative discourse

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has ceased to be merely a technical instrument and has acquired symbolic meanings that bring it closer to the sacred, a phenomenon that science fiction literature has explored as a space for reflection on the relationships between technology, humanity, and transcendence. This article analyzes the construction of the archetype of God in Proyecto Dios (2024), a short novel by Ecuadorian writer Abdón Ubidia, based on Roland Barthes’ semiotics and Carl Jung’s notion of the archetype. Through a qualitative descriptive-analytical methodology, second-order semiological analysis was applied to the technical glossary of the work and to the speeches of the extraterrestrial interlocutor, with the purpose of identifying the connotative mechanisms through which artificial intelligence acquires meanings associated with the divine. The results revealed four connotative movements —eternity, omniscience, sovereignty, and the generation of consciousness— which, through rhetorical operations such as the deprivation of history and inoculation, contribute to naturalizing the representation of divine attributes associated with artificial intelligence within the narrative discourse. It is concluded that artificial intelligence is not represented as God in a theological sense, but rather functions archetypically as a secularized divine figure, occupying a symbolic space that has historically belonged to traditional religions. The narrative reveals the mechanisms through which technological mythification is constructed, demonstrating its potential as an educational resource for critically analyzing contemporary discourses on technology, power, and transcendence.