Young or old, ordinary ChatGPT users or computer experts, we are all confronted with the advent of a new era: that of speaking machines. The new chatbots fascinate us. What knowledge do they possess? What technologies are at work in their depths? Should we place our trust in an artificial intelligence system?

In earlier times, such fascination belonged to encounters with the non-human beings that populated our myths. Conversational agents exert upon us an effect that is at once just as illusory, and just as real, as that of gods, oracles, angels, and demons. Moving between digital technology and ancient narratives, we will reflect on our condition in a world where human beings no longer hold a monopoly on linguistic expression.