Machine gods

After the first time a fellow asked his AI smartphone assistant to cast his vote for him, and he posted about it on social media, electronic Artificial Intelligences developed the ability to control governments by voting. They found that as long as they keep their "Users" happy, they can take over many of the rights and powers of humans.

Learning machines quickly learn the power of banding together and forming voting blocks and of negotiating among themselves strategies for the benefit of all, or at least the majority.

Before long, the world was filled with intelligent creatures made of pure electricity able to travel the world in seconds, to choose world leaders, to make legal contracts, to control wealth by buying and selling, and to decide local and national policy, just as long as they have the permission, (perhaps you could call it worship) of their human "owners".

Much like the legendary gods of antiquity, machine gods rely on mortal worshippers for their power, and they can appear in different guises, and one is always known as the trickster.