In The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI, Ray Kurzweil returns to a question raised in his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near: how converging technologies might transform humanity. He revisits his prediction that AI will reach human-level intelligence by 2029 and considers what could follow as biological and machine intelligence become increasingly connected.

Technology, health and everyday life

The book ranges across possible applications of exponential technological change: nanodevices working at the scale of atoms, links between brains and cloud-based intelligence, radical life extension, renewable energy and 3-D printing. Kurzweil also considers claims that technological progress could improve well-being, including through declines in poverty and violence.

The risks alongside the promises

Alongside prospective benefits, Kurzweil addresses potential hazards of biotechnology, nanotechnology and AI, including effects on employment, the safety of autonomous vehicles and efforts to create virtual versions of deceased people using data and DNA. The book’s scope extends from practical questions about health and work to the broader social consequences of technologies that could reshape human capacities.