Ex-Google Exec Starts Own ‘Church Of Scientology’ With Emphasis On AI

Whereas the infamous Church of Scientology was started by a sci-fi author, the newly established Way of the Future (WOTF) religion was created by former Google and Uber executive Anthony Levandowski. Its mandate is to pave the way for artificial intelligence to rule the world. By recently filing papers to the Internal Revenue Service, the church has been officially established as a new religion.

Levandowski was already a controversial figure in Silicon Valley before this new religion hubbub started. He is accused of stealing trade secrets from Google during his time at the company, which led to the fierce legal battle between the search engine giant and Uber. Last week, the multi-millionaire engineer made waves by making his church, for all intents and purposes, official, WIRED reported.

According to the papers that the church submitted to the IRS, the mission of WOTF is the “realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed through computer hardware and software.” In short, Levandowski and his followers want to build a future where humans are ruled by machines.

This might sound like something sci-fi writers or Hollywood might come up with, but it’s apparently the real deal. In a recent report by Gizmodo, it seems that Levandowski actually believes in the things that he is spouting, even claiming in an interview that AI supremacy is “inevitable.”

It’s not lost on anyone listening to the interview or reading the transcript that Levandowski sounds downright overzealous either. For example, he said that “Chaining [AI] it isn’t going to be the solution, as it will be stronger than any chains you could put on,” which just puts his philosophy into perspective.

As a talented engineer, it was only to be expected that Levandowski would hold machines in high regard. However, building a religion around the promise of salvation is something that people have spilled blood over in the past. One that centers on AI can have particularly devastating consequences.