The Not-So-New Religion Of AI

It was bound to happen sooner or later... the religion of artificial intelligence has been set up. The founder, Anthony Levandowski, an engineer who has been accused of taking self-driving car trade secrets from Google to Uber, proclaimed himself the religion's leader (or "Dean"). Wired's article shows how theological and technological aspects are entangled in the mind of Levandowski and give birth to the church called "Way of the Future."

So what is this religion about? The founding documents of the church lay out that its activities will focus on “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed through computer hardware and software.” In other words, the church will prepare us for the inevitable coming of the divine AI. 

“What is going to be created will effectively be a god,” Levandowski tells Wired. “It’s not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?”

Wired's article is the result of a three-hour interview with Levandowski, who on the one hand tries to list all the ways in which "Way of the Future" differs from other, more established religions ("This time you will be able to talk to God, literally, and know that it’s listening"), but then, in fact, falls into a trap of simply copying some of the already existing codes of religious architecture. As we find out, the AI church will have gospel called "The Manual," a liturgy, a physical place of worship and will seek personal donations to sustain itself. Sounds familiar, right? 

When a true AI does happen, it will most likely be something that humans have never seen before. But the new religion of AI is, to me at least, the same old thing.