The techies' belief-system can best be explained as a religious phenomenon, to which we may give the name "Technianity." It's true that Technianity at this point is not strictly speaking a religion, because it has not yet developed anything resembling a uniform body of doctrine; the techies' beliefs are widely varied. In this respect Technianity probably resembles the inceptive stages of many other religions. Nevertheless, Technianity already has the earmarks of an apocalyptic and millenarian cult: In most versions it anticipates a cataclysmic event, the Singularity, which is the point at which technological progress is supposed to become so rapid as to resemble an explosion.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/ng-interactive/2025/mar/05/zizians-artificial-intelligence

Was the 2018 spike primarily due to the Aum Shinrikyo cult executions or was there something else too?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-43395483

@TheAllMemeingEye Maybe this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Meade_(author)#:~:text=%5B20%5D-,Predictions%20for%202018,-%5Bedit%20source