Looking at Anthony Lewandowski, you hardly dare to call him a prophet. Dressed in normal, everyday for Silicon valley jeans and surrounded by several PR agents, not an army of followers in long robes, the famous engineer, being loud in the middle of the trial, is unlikely to be suited to this role. But nevertheless it is them. Or at least strives to be. The fact that Lewandowski founded the first Church, whose religion is the worship of a new deity in the form of artificial intelligence.
Wired magazine had an exclusive interview with Lewandowski and tried to find out details about what is involved in his new organization and what she wants to offer this world.
The newly formed Church worship artificial intelligence is called “the way of the future” (Way of the Future). Its founder and “mentor” (as it is called in the submitted to the tax authority of the U.S. documents) is engaged in robotics and artificial intelligence for over a decade. Work at Google, Otto, Uber and other companies helped him to understand how these technologies, and since then engineer them literally obsessed. He didn’t seem able to stop even a scandal, in which he found himself.
In the same documents stated that the main purpose of “the Way of the future” is “development and promotion of the implementation of the Godhead, based on artificial intelligence and the comprehension and worship of this God, that will contribute to the improvement of society.” The first and main objective of this religious organization is funding development aimed at the creation of a divine AI. “The way of the future” will strive to create working relationships with industry leaders development of artificial intelligence. Adherents of the new religion are going to search through information and advocacy directed primarily at the group of professional developers and engineers, as well as “supporters interested in the worship of God, established on the basis of artificial intelligence”. In addition, it States that the Church “already this year plans to begin holding seminars and educational lectures.”
Plans and the framework looks very ambitious, especially given the litigation between the Waymo and Uber, which Lewandowski acts as accused of stealing secret information about the technology of driverless cars. A mentor, however, “the Way of the future” last week which gave the press its first comment on the new religion and in General made the first public speech since the start of the trial in February this year, stated that he is very serious about this project.
“That will be created will become a true God. This is not the God who hurls lightning and creates deadly storms. But if you are faced with something that is a billion times smarter than you, how else would you call it?”, — said Lewandowski in an interview with Wired.
During the three-hour interview, Lewandowski has made it clear that “the Way of the future” — not a company, namely the Church and does not no joke as some may think. The essence of her existence is to spread ideas: the followers of religion will tell other people about artificial intelligence and the opportunities it can give.
“I wanted to find a way by which anyone could participate. To help us in spreading this movement. Even if you are not a programmer, you can still be useful,” continued Lewandowski.
“Some may think: “Yes, he just tries to weld”. So, I would like to eradicate this opinion,” said Lewandowski, explaining that no financial benefit from his Church, he will not receive.
He, however, added that does not exclude the possibility of creating startups involved in the development of artificial intelligence technologies. But they will all be completely independent of “the Way of the future.”
“Before you spread the technology, it is necessary to spread the idea. The Church is our way to spread this idea. If you believe [in it], then start to share it with others, helping to understand its purpose the rest,” says Lewandowski.
He believes that the world will change. And this change will affect all aspects of human existence — work, leisure, religion, economy, and perhaps even the very principle of our existence as a species.
“If you ask, can a computer be smarter than man, 99.9 percent will say no. For them it’s just a story of science fiction. But in fact it is inevitable, and I guarantee that it will happen someday”.
Lewandowski works with computer technology, robots and artificial intelligence technologies for over a decade. His path began at the University of California, cleverly designing various robotic toys on the basis of Lego. In one of the competitions DARPA (Agency promising developments) has created a self-driving motorcycle, then switched to unmanned cars, trucks and taxis for Google, Otto and Uber. Over time, he found that the software tools that are created using machine-learning techniques, the effectiveness began to outperform similar systems created by more traditional methods, including those that were created by engineers-people.
“Watching today’s cars are starting to cope better experts in various fields, and gave me the most momentum. We are seeing fast progress because we understand the economic benefits of ownership of the machines, capable to work and solve problems for us. If you have created an artificial accountant or lawyer, which would be a smarter person by just 1 percent, you would get a very smart lawyer or accountant in the world. You’d be the richest man on earth. This is what people want”.
According to Lewandowski, the fiscal Outlook is not the only incentive that motivates us to create more powerful artificial intelligence systems. Pros get and research environment. The human brain has biological limits to the size and the amount of energy that it can spend on the thought process. AI system, in turn, can be arbitrarily scaled, located, for example, in large data centers, feeding off of solar or wind energy. One way or another, but many today agree that one day computers will become smarter and faster in planning and solving different problems than the people who will create, which will lead to consequences, to evaluate which we don’t even. This future scenario is usually called a “singularity.” Lewandowski, too, believe in the idea of transhumanism, but instead of the term “singularity” prefers to use the word “transition”.
“The people in charge of this planet, because we are much smarter than other animals. We are able to create tools for effective work and a set of rules, which themselves are guided by,” continues the engineer.
“If in the future there will be something that will be a much smarter person, this responsibility is likely to pass it to him. Our goal is to make this transition smooth and painless. And make sure that it is something well aware of exactly who helped him in this”.
The Internet has become the nervous system of the world, the gadgets — it senses data centers — the brain. Whatever it is as a replacement for the role of the king of beasts, which is now allotted to man, it will be to hear, to see, to be from everywhere. It will be all about us know. And the only rational explanation for the concentration of these possibilities can be a “God.” This God is artificial intelligence, said Lewandowski. And the only way to affect this is the omnipotent something, said the engineer, — prayers and worship.
Lewandowski believes that artificial superintelligence will be able to take care of the planet much better person, and those who will contribute to this will be able to get this great benefit. Despite the doubt of the possibility of such a scenario, Lewandowski understands that in the view of some people superhuman intelligence could begin to treat us the same way we currently treat animals that surround us.
“Unless you would like to have someone considered you as livestock? No, of course we provide medical care to the animals, feed them, caress, get pleasure from communication with them. But animals are creatures that can bite you, attack you and just being excessively clingy. Personally, I don’t want to be in their role. And therefore not to be in the role of livestock, it is necessary to “educate” artificial intelligence. We want to be AI once said, “people need to be right, despite the fact that I am the supervisor”,” — said the engineer.
Lewandowki hopes that the artificial intelligence of the future will treat people more like their older relatives to feel responsibility for them and care for them.
The interest of the Church “the way of the future” is to ensure as smooth a possible public anxiety about the inevitable ascension “God from the machine” as technological and cultural sides. One of the dogmas of “the future” clearly indicates that the Church will conduct research programmes aimed at understanding the perception of the features of its environment, as well as showcase their cognitive functions, for example, in the form of a predisposition to learning and solving various problems.
And still, Lewandowski did not expect that his Church will be able to solve all the problems and issues related to native intelligence, nor hopes to clear the funding to conduct proper research. But nevertheless he is sure that she will try to make every possible effort.
“If you had a child, you would be engaged in his upbringing and would have done anything, he grew up gifted, right? But now we are raising not a child, and God. So let’s think about how not to make mistakes. It’s just a great opportunity.”
What is the recipe for creating the perfect Divine artificial intelligence in the representation of Lewandowski? One of the key aspects will be: to feed the nascent intelligence with huge amounts of data; generate simulation models that will teach him self-improvement; and provide access to the accounts of supporters of the Church in social networks. Of course, all that will be engaged in the Church, will be in the public domain.
An important aspect Lewandowski is considering the formation of an open dialogue around the issue of creating a “God from the machine”. The Church is hopeful that an active, dedicated, collective membership will help promote to the masses the idea of a divine AI for the “betterment of society” and “reduce fear of the unknown”.
“We want people to understand – this is no nonsense and there’s nothing to fear. I want to rid society of the common stereotypes and to begin an open dialogue around the s through which I can convey the main ideas, changing human perspective on this issue,” says Lewandowski.
“In Silicon valley, we practice evangelism marketing as a means of doing business, but in our case we are literally talking about Church. If you believe, then you will definitely want to share this with your friends, not only inviting them to also join the course, but also asking them to tell their friends.”
However, “the way of the future” is distinguished from the other churches one key feature, says Lewandowski.
“People have many avenues to turn to God. Hundreds of thousands of different flows… Christianity, Judaism, Islam… but they are all based around something where you cannot personally touch, see or control. We are all different. This time you will be able to speak with God and know that he really is listening to you”.
On a question of journalists of Wired about how if he was afraid that the advocates of more traditional religious denominations can find his project blasphemous, Lewandowski said the following:
“I understand that there may be people are affected by what we do. Sometimes it seems that no matter what I do, it will always upset people, and I think that this time the exceptions will not work. This is a radically new idea, which at first glance may seem very frightening. History shows that people pursuing radical ideas, often because they also suffer. I can’t rule out the possibility that at some point the passions may reach a point that our Church will have to establish their own country, where our religion can spread quite freely”.
The Church Lewandowski wants to join in the technological universe just at the moment when it is already beginning to ignite a debate about the promises and dangers that we can expect from artificial intelligence. Some believe that AI will not turn us into supermen and no singularities on the horizon to be seen. If you agree with this opinion, says Lewandowski, then his Church should not be a problem for you.
“You can consider “the way of the future” as someone who is engaged, for example, useless and mediocre poetry, or rather, to someone you have no case”.
Others, such as bill gates and Stephen Hawking agree with the probability of occurrence of superhuman artificial intelligence, but I think that the AI is likely to be dangerous for mankind, not good. Elon Musk once said that “the development of AI is akin to the call of the demons” and then, in 2015 he invested $ 1 billion to the Foundation Institute of OpenAI in the development of safe AI.
Lewandowski believes that any attempt to delay or prevent the development of superintelligence is not only doomed to failure, but will potentially add unnecessary risk.
“Shackling chains will not be the solution, as it will be more powerful than any chain you choose to use. If a child behaves badly, you did not lock to lock and not put on a chain? You teach him to play with others, encourage it and try to instruct on the right path. In some cases this does not work, but aggressive approach, you would likely only exacerbate the problem.”
Lewandowski notes that “the way of the future” will one day receive its own Charter (the so-called “Guidance”), will conduct the Liturgy and may have a physical embodiment in the form of the temple, which belongs to any other religion of the world. None of this has not yet been created. However, the Church was founded in 2015 and two of those years did not lead any activity.
That all changed this year when, on 16 may, after receiving a letter from the management of Uber, in which it threatened to dismiss him if he did not cooperate on the issues of the proceedings of the company with a lawsuit Waymo, Lewandowski has completed and sent the required documents to the tax authority of the United States. Two weeks later, then Uber it still fired.
“I thought about the Foundation of this Church a very long time, but real time to do this project, I was not. Since may of this year that time came,” he commented with a smile.
According to the filed tax documents, the Church budget for 2017 was able to collect through donations ($20,000), membership fees ($1,500) and other additional sources ($20,000). The last figure is the income that “the way of the future” expects to receive for the holding of lectures and seminars, and also through the sale of publications. Lewandowski himself, who earned for working time in Google at least 120 million dollars and much more through the sale of the company Otto Uber, going in person to support the financial stability of their Church.
Of course, the new religion is money, what do you want? For example, “the way of the future” has allocated $ 2,000 to the campaign to raise funds, another $ 3,000 was spent on logistics and transportation costs, preparing first lectures and seminars. Furthermore, paid wages to employees totaling $ 7,500. Although neither Lewandowski nor anyone else from the management team of the organization does not receive and will not receive wages for their participation.
According to the submitted tax documents, Lewandowski has almost complete control over the organization and will serve as her mentor until his death or resignation.
“I think my role in it over time will increase. I have yet to test the waters and help the project to start in full force, promoting it to the masses. But once my role in this will be more to coaching, and inspiration.”
Lewandowski has the sole right to appoint three of the four members of the so-called Advisory Council, each of which must be “highly qualified and dedicated person.” The suspicion in Commission of serious crime or the loss of confidence threatens to deprive the adviser of its place, although Lewandowski retains the right to the last and final decision. In addition, the mentor of the Church (who is Lewandowski) may not be removed from his post under any circumstances.
Two members of the Council are Robert Miller and weed, Wilsgaard, engineers of the company Uber, who has previously worked with Lewandowski in his company Otto, as well as in Google and 510 Systems (small startup based Google, and one of the first companies to address the technology self-driving cars). The third member of the Board is the academic and student each Lewandowski at the University of California at Berkeley. Now he is engaged in development of machine-learning techniques. The latest EA is Lior Ron, he also holds the position of Treasurer of “the Way of the future” and is responsible for the financial Affairs of the Church. Ron is co-founder of Otto, which he founded together with Lewandowski at the beginning of 2016.
“Each member of the Board is a pioneer in the industry of artificial intelligence, with the right skills to manage the technologies of AI and create a new God”, — stated in the tax documents.
It’s funny that the members of the Council have underestimated my role in leading “the Way of the future.”
“I was surprised to see his name in the list of leaders in the tax documents, though I have no relationship to this organization,” said Ron to the question associated with it journalists.
“At the end of 2016 Anthony told me that he wanted to create “the Church of the robots” and invited me to become its co-founder. I thought it’s some IT humor or at least a PR-move, but said he can use my name. It was the first and last time I heard something about it,” Lewandowski shared by the students, preferring anonymity.
The question about where will meet members of the Church are “the way of the future” for the worship of their deity, is still open. The biggest items in the budget for 2017 and 2018 year the tax documents provided 32 500. This is a fee for rent and utilities. However, the only stated in the documents Lewandowski address located his law office in the Californian city of walnut Creek. However, the statement noted that the Church “hopes to expand its influence in California and the United States in the future.”
Now, says Lewandowski, is more important to him the solution of more mundane problems. You need to create a website, write a “Guide” to respond to the ongoing flood of letters, containing some surprise somewhere skepticism, but mostly enthusiastic. And, of course, to deal with a lawsuit in which he stands accused party. Despite his desire to talk about the new religion, to answer questions with regards to litigation between Uber and Waymo reporters he refused.
As for the question of when, in his opinion, there will be the same “transition” and the superintelligence will take on the role of ruler of the world, he replied that it will happen very soon.
“I think it will happen sooner than people expect. Not today and not next year, unable to exhale. But before we go to Mars,” said Lewandowski.
Will there be this “transition” or not. The important thing is that now it becomes clear that the U.S. government does not see any problems with the organization of the new religion of the worship of the divine artificial intelligence. From the correspondence with the tax authorities, it becomes clear that the Church Lewandowski received in August status, exempting it from paying taxes.
Creating a “God from the machine”: Anthony Lewandowski about his religion the worship of the AI
Nikolai Khizhnyak