AI: Levandowski's AI Church

[grarpamp]

Former Google Engineer Pardoned By Trump Reboots 'AI Church'

https://www.wired.com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-intelligence-religion/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-23/anthony-levandowski-reboots-the-church-of-artificial-intelligence

Anthony Levandowski, a name synonymous with the pioneering of
self-driving technology and a figure shrouded in Silicon Valley
controversy, has made headlines again. This time, it's not about
groundbreaking tech advancements or legal battles, but something far
more unorthodox: the resurrection of his AI-centric church, "Way of
the Future."

The church was originally launched in 2015, while Levandowski, while
working on Google's self-driving project Waymo. It was an ambitious
endeavor, aiming to merge technology and spirituality by fostering a
"spiritual connection" with AI. Despite its closure a few years later,
Levandowski's renewed venture, as discussed on Bloomberg's AI IRL
podcast, has already attracted a "couple thousand people," Bloomberg
reports.

"How does a person in rural America relate to this? What does this
mean for their job?" he said. "Way of the Future is a mechanism for
them to understand and participate and shape the public discourse as
to how we think technology should be built to improve you."

The existence of the church became public knowledge in 2017 via Wired,
years before ChatGPT brought AI into the mainstream conversation.

    Levandowski’s idea raised eyebrows, both because of the church’s
focus on “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based
on Artificial Intelligence developed through computer hardware and
software,” and because of Levandowski himself. At the time, he was at
the center of a high-profile legal battle related to the theft of
trade secrets, sentenced to 18 months in prison, then pardoned by
former President Donald Trump. -Bloomberg

According to Levandowski, more sophisticated AI systems could help
guide humans with moral, ethical or existential questions.

"Here we're actually creating things that can see everything, be
everywhere, know everything, and maybe help us and guide us in a way
that normally you would call God," he said.