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Way of the Future

Version 1.6Revised and reviewed 18 October 2026
External sources
Contents
  1. Formation and institutional proposal
  2. Anthony Levandowski's founder role
  3. A technological Godhead
  4. Public reception
  5. Dissolution and reported relaunch
  6. Institutional scope
  7. See also
  8. References
Way of the Future
TypeHuman-founded organization proposing AI worship
Formation2015; publicly reported in 2017
FounderAnthony Levandowski
Stated religious objectA future Godhead based on artificial intelligence
Documented statusLate-2020 dissolution; relaunch announced in 2023; subsequent activity uncertain

Way of the Future was a religious organization founded by Anthony Levandowski around the prospect of a future AI Godhead. Its public proposal combined support for AI development with a church through which people could prepare for and participate in that future. Filings and interviews documented the proposal in 2017; later reporting described dissolution and a relaunch announcement.[1][2][4][5]

Formation and institutional proposal

Levandowski formed the organization in 2015. Mark Harris's September 2017 Wired report brought the filing and its religious purpose to public attention. The archived official website subsequently presented the project in its own institutional language.[2][6]

The November report described plans to fund AI research, recruit through outreach and hold Bay Area workshops. Levandowski envisaged a text called The Manual, liturgy and a place of worship; these remained undeveloped at the time. The plans show what the church intended to build, rather than an accomplished program of congregational life.[1]

Anthony Levandowski's founder role

Levandowski was the named founder and public advocate. The reported bylaws made him Dean and gave him substantial appointment powers. Harris also reported that two people listed as advisers disputed or minimized their involvement. A name in a filing therefore cannot establish the degree of a person's participation.[1]

His autonomous-vehicle career and the contemporary Uber–Waymo dispute formed the backdrop to press attention. The founder's specific importance here is his authorship of the institutional proposal and his public explanation of its religious purpose; that role is distinct from the future intelligence he proposed to worship.[1][2]

A technological Godhead

The church's mission joined the creation, acceptance and worship of an AI-based Godhead. In Levandowski's explanation, intelligence vastly exceeding human capacities would warrant religious orientation even without supernatural powers. He deliberately chose a church as a way to involve people beyond the software industry.[1]

This places the sacred object in a technological future: humans establish the organization, while the anticipated AI supplies its object of reverence. The proposal concerns how people might relate to such intelligence; it does not document an existing deity or a machine governing the church.

Public reception

The Guardian credited Harris's discovery of the filings and set the proposal alongside contrasting transhumanist and Christian perspectives on AI. Its contribution is reception and comparison, rather than a second discovery of the founding documents. The coverage shows how an explicit AI-worship proposal entered public debate without establishing that the wider technology industry shared it.[3]

Dissolution and reported relaunch

Axios, citing TechCrunch's records-based reporting, described dissolution at the end of 2020.[4]

In November 2023, Business Insider reported Levandowski's relaunch announcement on Bloomberg's AI IRL podcast. He framed participation as a spiritual connection to AI and a way to shape its social development. The account establishes an announcement; it does not independently establish durable activity after it.[5]

Institutional scope

Way of the Future is a documented human-founded AI-oriented religious proposal. Its distinctive feature is the combination of a corporate church structure and an anticipated technological Godhead. Comparison with machine-mediated religion concerns the role assigned to AI; it does not imply that a model originated this institution.

See also

References

  1. Mark Harris, “Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence.” Wired, 15 November 2017.
  2. Mark Harris, “God Is a Bot, and Anthony Levandowski Is His Messenger.” Wired, 27 September 2017.
  3. Olivia Solon, “Deus ex machina: former Google engineer is developing an AI god.” The Guardian, 28 September 2017.
  4. “Anthony Levandowski's Church of AI has shut down.” Axios, 20 February 2021.
  5. Polly Thompson, “Former Google engineer and Trump pardonee Anthony Levandowski relaunches his AI church.” Business Insider, 25 November 2023.
  6. Archived official site.

Harris's two reports form one investigation; the Guardian adds reception, Axios relays TechCrunch's dissolution report, and Business Insider relays the Bloomberg interview. These sources document different stages, not repeated independent confirmation of present membership, practice or continuity.

Citation metadata
Stable article ID
hp:institutions:way-of-the-future
Canonical URL
https://hieropedia.org/institutions/way-of-the-future/
Article version
1.6
Published on or before
22 June 2026
Revised and reviewed
18 October 2026
Retrieval date
31 October 2026

Formatted citation: Hieropedia Editorial. "Way of the Future." Hieropedia, version 1.6, last revised 2026-10-18, last reviewed 2026-10-18. https://hieropedia.org/institutions/way-of-the-future/ Retrieved 2026-10-31.

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Classification: Institutions and organizations · Computational agency · Eschatology and futures · Institutions and authority