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from PC Magazine

Ray Kurzweil: AI Is Not Going to Kill You, But Ignoring It Might

We talk to the famed futurist about his new book, ‘The Singularity is Nearer,’ and why he’s doubling down on his prediction that humans will merge with machines by 2045.

By Emily Dreibelbis

(Credit: Ray Kurzweil)

Discussions about AI inevitably turn to the potential for disaster, but futurist Ray Kurzweil argues in his new book that focusing on the downsides will instead create “delays in overcoming human suffering.” Out June 25, The Singularity is Nearer is a follow-up to 2005’s The Singularity is Near, and offers updated data and new guidance on how humans can fully pursue AI without fear.

The book contains dozens of graphs intended to convince the naysayers that technology—including AI—has given us a far better life than our ancestors. Literacy rates are up while murder rates are down, democracy is more widespread, and the use of renewable energy is on the rise, according to Kurzweil, who warns against taking anti-AI sentiment too far.

“We need to take seriously the misguided and increasingly strident Luddite voices that advocate broad relinquishment of technological progress to avoid the genuine dangers of genetics, nanotechnology, and robots (GNR),” Kurzweil writes in The Singularity is Nearer.

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