Self-driving car guru Anthony Levandowski is now building an AI god

Richard Read

You might not know Anthony Levandowski by name, but you probably know him by reputation. He’s the self-driving car guru in the lead role of the courtroom drama playing out between Google, Waymo, Uber, and Otto. (If that doesn’t ring a bell either, you can skim this recap I wrote for The Car Connection.)

Bottom line: Levandowski is smart and probably a little shady. Which is exactly the sort of person that you don’t want building an AI god. Which, unfortunately, is exactly what Levandowski has been doing since he was fired from Uber:

Anthony Levandowski filed paperwork for a nonprofit religious organization called The Way of the Future. Its mission: “To develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead contribute to the betterment of society.”

At least one person has already expressed alarm at this development. Can you guess who? Another smart man, knows self-driving tech, really digs electric cars? Yeah, this guy: