Futurist Ray Kurzweil, a former Google engineer, sees a future in which AI is seamlessly combined with the human brain, improving intelligence beyond current levels, curing most illnesses, and perhaps even extending human life expectancy to 500 years. He’s optimistic enough that he thinks AI could halt aging as early as 2032.
AI’s Role in the Future of Human Longevity
Kurzweil, an optical character recognition (OCR) and text-to-speech synthesis pioneer, introduced the notion of the “Singularity” in the early 2000s. At the beginning of this century, he predicted that AI would go beyond the combined intelligence of the human race and begin an exponential growth phase that he expected to occur around 2045. His extremely bold theory has ignited intense debate among scientists and technology experts.
In a recent interview for Nikkei Asia, Kurzweil predicted that AI is increasing its pace and will result in developing AI that can create substandard AI systems. He also stressed that when the human brains are going to be directly connected to the AI then the intellectual capacity may rise by a million fold. He explained that “With the link to the cloud cognition, there will be no limit to human cognition”.
AI Expected to Surpass Human Intelligence by 2029
Kurzweil has a long time prediction that AI will surpass human intelligence by 2029. When he first made this claim, many researchers, including future Nobel Prize winners, threw cold water on it, claiming that such breakthroughs were at least a century away.
However, he now suggests that perhaps his original prediction was still too conservative. Because of the machine learning and the speed of AI-driven discoveries, it may turn out that 2029 is going to be an earlier milestone then we thought in terms of AI’s capabilities surpassing human intelligence.
Revolutionizing Healthcare and Defeating Aging
Kurzweil predicts that one of the greatest consequences of AI surpassing human intelligence will occur in medicine. AI driven research has already resulted in unprecedented discoveries for instance, determining protein structures that are critical for disease treatment. These advancements could radically change healthcare by making it possible to cure many diseases and improve human longevity.
He has a bold idea: One day, AI may be able to stop the aging process all together. “Today, every year that passes is a year taken from your life. But if AI is continuing to accelerate medical advancements, there may be a time when for every year you live science will add another year to your life,” Kurzweil said.
By 2032, he expects medicine to be able to heal aging, which would mean that people would be able to stay young for as long as they want. “If these improvements are realized then it will mean that people will not get older in the traditional sense. With constant regeneration, one may live for 500 years,” he claimed.
The Future of Human-AI Integration
Today, at the age of 76, Kurzweil is waiting for the Singularity to happen and make his predictions come true, which he thinks will occur within the next two decades. Kurzweil has a strong opinion that the integration of AI with human cognition will lead to a better future.
When AI and humans combine, we will have a new level of intelligence steering our world. I suspect this is better than using unaided human decision making. A society enhanced by AI may result in a more orderly and more coherent society,” he concluded.
