Tools & Platforms
TED Radio Hour : NPR
Illustration by Luke Medina/ NPR/Photo by Andrey Popov/ Getty Images
Futurist Ray Kurzweil’s goal is to not die at all.
A far-fetched idea, and yet those who have followed Kurzweil’s work over the decades know that many of his wild ideas and predictions come true.
Kurzweil was one of the first to forecast how AI would turbocharge human potential. His thought-provoking predictions about digital technology come from over six decades of experience inventing groundbreaking tools that we use today — tools like text to speech synthesis in 1976 and the first music synthesizer in 1983.
Now, 77, the computer scientist is focused on another prediction: that technology will soon make it possible to extend the human lifespan indefinitely.
Extending life through “longevity escape velocity”
“Right now you go through a year and you use up a year of your longevity,” Kurzweil explained in his 2024 TED Talk. “However, scientific progress is also progressing. … It’s giving us cures for diseases, new forms of treatment. … So you lose a year, you get back four months.”
As scientific progress accelerates, Kurzweil thinks the rate of developing treatments will outpace our aging. He calls this concept “longevity escape velocity.”
“For example, I’ve had these two problems, diabetes and heart disease, which I’ve actually overcome, and I really have no concern with them today,” Kurzweil told NPR’s Manoush Zomorodi. “So today I have an artificial pancreas that’s just like a real pancreas. It’s actually external, but it detects my glucose, determines the amount of insulin that I should have, and it works just like a real pancreas.”
With these types of medical advances, every year that someone gets older their health could deteriorate less and less.
“I don’t guarantee immortality. I’m talking about longevity escape velocity, where we can keep going without getting older. We won’t be aging in the same way that we are today,” said Kurzweil.
Is it only a matter of time before your mind merges with AI?
Along with his goal of escaping death, Kurzweil has envisioned a future where AI dramatically alters the way we think and live.
In 1999, in his book The Age of Spiritual Machines, Kurzweil predicted that by 2029, artificial general intelligence would match and even exceed human intelligence. And while that may not seem so far-fetched anymore, Kurzweil says there’s one way his prediction is unique:
He claims our minds will merge with AI.
“We’re going to be able to think of things and we’re not going to be sure whether it came from our biological intelligence or our computational intelligence. It’s all going to be the same thing.”
Kurzweil calls this “the Singularity” and predicts a future where nanobots directly connect our brains to the cloud, expanding our intelligence.
“We will be funnier, sexier, smarter, more creative, free from biological limitations. We’ll be able to choose our appearance. We’ll be able to do things we can’t do today, like visualize objects in 11 dimensions … speak all languages,” Kurzweil said in his 2024 TED Talk. “We’ll be able to expand consciousness in ways we can barely imagine.”
As far as Kurzweil is concerned, our minds are already starting to merge with machines and will only continue to do so.
TED Radio Hour‘s special series: Prophets of Technology
Curious to learn more about Kurzweil’s predictions about AI and technology? On TED Radio Hour‘s three-part series, Prophets of Technology, host Manoush Zomorodi speaks with Ray Kurzweil and other scientists, entrepreneurs and experts predicting and shaping our tech future. They share what they’ve gotten right — and wrong — and where they think we’re headed next.
This episode is part one of TED Radio Hour’s three-part series: Prophets of Technology, conversations with the minds shaping our digital world. Part two will be available on Friday, July 18 and part three will be available on Friday, July 25.
This digital story was written by Harsha Nahata and edited by Katie Monteleone and Rachel Faulkner White.
This episode of TED Radio Hour was produced by James Delahoussaye and Matthew Cloutier. It was edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour and Manoush Zomorodi.
Our production staff at NPR also includes Fiona Geiran.
Our audio engineers were Maggie Luthar, Jimmy Keeley, Stacey Abbott and Josephine Nyounai.
Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, and on Facebook or email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.
Tools & Platforms
DXC Technology’s AI-Powered Tendia Solution Slashes Bid Writing Time for Ventia
DXC Technology Company (NYSE:DXC) is one of the cheap IT stocks hedge funds are buying. On July 3, DXC Technology announced the deployment of an AI-driven bid writing solution called Tendia for Ventia. Ventia is one of the largest essential infrastructure service providers in Australia and New Zealand.
The new platform significantly reduces the time required to draft initial bid responses for major infrastructure contracts, cutting it from days to minutes, thereby enhancing Ventia’s ability to quickly respond to complex and high-value tenders. The Tendia solution was developed in collaboration with DXC and was deployed in just 4 months.
An IT security specialist inspecting a corporate network server for any malicious activity.
It works by automating the time-consuming process of sourcing and synthesizing information from extensive document libraries. Tendia allows their teams to focus on higher-value work, deliver more accurate proposals, and respond more quickly to multi-million-dollar tenders.
DXC Technology Company (NYSE:DXC) provides IT services and solutions internationally.
While we acknowledge the potential of DXC as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Tools & Platforms
DXC Technology’s AI-Powered Tendia Solution Slashes Bid Writing Time for Ventia
DXC Technology Company (NYSE:DXC) is one of the cheap IT stocks hedge funds are buying. On July 3, DXC Technology announced the deployment of an AI-driven bid writing solution called Tendia for Ventia. Ventia is one of the largest essential infrastructure service providers in Australia and New Zealand.
The new platform significantly reduces the time required to draft initial bid responses for major infrastructure contracts, cutting it from days to minutes, thereby enhancing Ventia’s ability to quickly respond to complex and high-value tenders. The Tendia solution was developed in collaboration with DXC and was deployed in just 4 months.
An IT security specialist inspecting a corporate network server for any malicious activity.
It works by automating the time-consuming process of sourcing and synthesizing information from extensive document libraries. Tendia allows their teams to focus on higher-value work, deliver more accurate proposals, and respond more quickly to multi-million-dollar tenders.
DXC Technology Company (NYSE:DXC) provides IT services and solutions internationally.
While we acknowledge the potential of DXC as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Tools & Platforms
Retail accelerates investments in generative AI
Dive Brief:
- Over half (56%) of retail organizations have upped their generative AI investments compared to last year, according to a report by Capgemini.
- Retail is among the top five industries most advanced in adopting AI agents, with 18% having implemented AI agents or multiagent systems, according to the report.
- Across industries, around 40% of organizations tracking ROI expect to achieve positive returns from AI within one to three years.
Dive Insight:
Generative AI has dominated the retail landscape with its various use cases from content creation to consumer-facing tools and more. As companies like Walmart and Target lean further on generative AI, the tech is making its mark in both how customers interact with retailers and behind-the-scenes workflows.
“Gen AI and agentic AI have unique capabilities, making them suitable for specific, non-overlapping tasks,” Sahil Chandratre, head of strategy, analytics and consumer insights for Reliance Retail, said in a statement. “For example, Gen AI is capable of addressing front-end tasks like customer communication and scheduling, and agentic AI is great at handling backend and complex activities such as billing and reconciliation. Systematically deploying the two in relevant areas can lead to synergies and streamlined workflows.”
When H&M introduced an AI-powered HR agent to streamline recruitment and candidate experience, it reduced time-to-hire by 43%, the report found. Additionally, employee attrition decreased by 25%.
Deploying different uses for AI is a balance Walmart and Amazon, among other companies, have attempted to strike.
Walmart’s generative AI shopping assistant Sparky, announced last month, can summarize reviews and help shoppers plan purchases. Amazon continues to push its own generative AI, including by introducing its next-generation Alexa+ assistant in February. Overall, shoppers are increasingly buying from generative AI’s product recommendations.
Meanwhile, companies like Visa and Mastercard are racing to create agentic AI tools that will perform as personal shopping assistants.
The shopping journey has become far more automated than some consumers may prefer. A recent KPMG report found that some shoppers may not fully trust AI or be comfortable with advanced shopping technology, like allowing AI to analyze personal customer data.
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