Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI, believes artificial intelligence can bring major changes to medical science in the near future. He announced at the Wall Street Journal Tech event (WSJ Tech) that over the next 12 to 18 months we will witness real and significant advances in biology, the health sector, and disease treatment.
Brockman even sketched a vision beyond treating diseases and said that technological progress might one day create conditions in which death becomes a choice. This view refers to the possibility of a dramatic increase in human lifespan and even attaining a form of immortality.
However, the promise of treating diseases like cancer with artificial intelligence is not new and has been repeatedly raised by technology industry figures since the introduction of ChatGPT. So far there remains a considerable gap between these predictions and proven medical achievements.
Brockman is not the only tech figure with such a belief. Shayam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, has previously said some AI researchers are so confident in the technology’s ability to cure cancer that they have even taken up smoking; because they imagine future medical advances could offset its negative consequences. He described this mindset as a form of collective delusion.
Peter Diamandis, a futurist in the technology field, also believes humans should avoid death from preventable causes before 2030; because after that, the combination of advanced technologies centered on artificial intelligence could lead to a dramatic increase in lifespan. Bryan Johnson, a millionaire and activist in biotechnology and anti-aging, also considers AI one of the potential tools for making no disease incurable.
According to ITNA citing Techspot, Elon Musk has also previously said that extending lifespan and even achieving semi-immortality is an issue that can be solved scientifically. He believes that because different parts of the body age in a coordinated way, perhaps by changing the biological mechanisms of aging this process could be controlled.
Despite these predictions, a definitive cure for cancer and turning death into a choice still resemble futuristic visions more than imminent medical achievements. Therefore, to evaluate the claims made, one must wait for scientific results and approved treatments.