The Guy at the Center of Uber and Google's Legal Battle Created a Church That Worships AI Anthony Levandowski is the CEO and president of a religious organization called Way of the Future.

By Nina Zipkin

AFP | Getty Images
Anthony Levandowski

For the past year, Uber has been involved in more than a few legal battles, with one of the biggest being its ongoing conflict with Google over allegedly stolen self-driving car technology.

The central question at hand was whether Anthony Levandowski -- the engineer who left Google's self-driving arm Waymo to start his own self-driving truck initiative Otto, which was then acquired by Uber for $700 million -- stole Google trade secrets and utilized them while at Uber.

In May -- after Uber president Jeff Jones left his post after several months on the job, but before former CEO Travis Kalanick resigned -- Levandowski was fired. According to The New York Times, he was relieved of his duties after he failed to meet a deadline to turn over pertinent legal information.

Related: 4 Reasons Why the Uber-Waymo Lawsuit Is a Huge Wake Up Call for the $3.5-Trillion Tech Industry

But that's far from the end of Levandowski's story, because it would appear that his interest in furthering autonomous tech isn't just about the money, but about faith.

Levandowski is the CEO and president of a religious organization that he founded in 2015 called Way of the Future. According to documents filed with the state of California and obtained by Wired, Way of the Future's mission is to "develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence." And through the "worship of the Godhead, [to] contribute to the betterment of society."

Which is to say that Levandowski probably isn't as freaked out by the idea of machines taking over as let's say, Elon Musk might be.

Just another day in Silicon Valley, right?

Related video: How to Build Trust and Avoid Being Lied to as an Entrepreneur

Wavy Line
Nina Zipkin

Entrepreneur Staff

Staff Writer. Covers leadership, media, technology and culture.

Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers leadership, media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

Editor's Pick

She's Been Coding Since Age 7 and Presented Her Life-Saving App to Tim Cook Last Year. Now 17, She's on Track to Solve Even Bigger Problems.
Lock
I Helped Grow 4 Unicorns Over 10 Years That Generated $18 Billion in Online Revenues. Here's What I've Learned.
Lock
Want to Break Bad Habits and Supercharge Your Business? Use This Technique.
Lock
Don't Have Any Clients But Need Customer Testimonials? Follow These 3 Tricks To Boost Your Rep.
Why Are Some Wines More Expensive Than Others? A Top Winemaker Gives a Full-Bodied Explanation.

Related Topics

Business News

Apple Just Unveiled Its VR Headset. What You Need to Know.

The Vision Pro is Apple's first major product launch since AirPods.

Growing a Business

The Best Way to Run a Business Meeting

All too often, meetings run longer than they should and fail to keep attendees engaged. Here's how to run a meeting the right way.

Fundraising

Working Remote? These Are the Biggest Dos and Don'ts of Video Conferencing

As more and more businesses go remote, these are ways to be more effective and efficient on conference calls.

Marketing

5 Things You Can Do Now to Improve Email Marketing

Abide by these simple tricks to help your campaigns gain more visibility and generate revenue in the process.

Science & Technology

'We Were Sucked In': How to Protect Yourself from Deepfake Phone Scams.

Phone fraudsters are using AI to clone the voices of loved or trusted people to rip them off. Here's how to detect if the phone is real or robot.