Artificial intelligence (AI) is the term on everyone’s lips – and it evokes both great hopes and dystopian horror scenarios. But how can you explain the enthusiasm for the technology? The technological debate about AI seems to be rooted in a deep cultural layer in which human desires and fears are hidden. In this article, Theresa Züger takes a closer look at the cultural factor of Artificial Intelligence and shows that we can even learn something about ourselves from the AI debate.