The Singularity Countdown: AGI by 2029, Humans Merge with AI, and Intelligence Multiplies 1000x | Ray Kurzweil | 223

**Peter Diamandis** (0:00)
It feels like we're in the midst of the singularity. Do you agree that we're actually in the midst of it right now, or are we going to have to wait for some other point to get there?

**Ray Kurzweil** (0:08)
One difference of my own perspective versus everybody else's, Ray Kurzweil, the inventor and futurist who's been working in the field of artificial intelligence.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:19)
Ray Kurzweil, author, inventor, and futurist.

**Ray Kurzweil** (0:22)
I've been now in AI for 61 years, which is actually a record.

**Dave Blundin** (0:27)
If you look at your 120-odd predictions from 30-odd years ago, only three that were wrong.

**Peter Diamandis** (0:32)
Your first prediction, as you said, that you released in 1989 was that we're going to reach human-level AI by 2029

**Ray Kurzweil** (0:40)
The next 10 years will get us to my definition of singularity, which is we'll be at least a thousand times more intelligent.

**Salim Ismail** (0:49)
What is most exciting to you and what are you anticipating most excitedly in the next a year or two?

**Ray Kurzweil** (0:54)
We'll have supercomputers, but we'll also be merging with them, so we're going to be made a lot more intelligent than we are today.

**Peter Diamandis** (1:01)
When?

**Ray Kurzweil** (1:02)
That's going to happen at the same time for everybody.

**Peter Diamandis** (1:09)
Now that's the Moonshot, ladies and gentlemen.
Everybody, welcome to Moonshots. The conversation gets you ready for the future and prepares you for the supersonic tsunami coming our way. I'm here with DB2, AWG and Salim. Gentlemen, 2026 is off to an extraordinary year. Alex, you're not in your regular haunt. Where are you today?

**Dave Blundin** (1:32)
Yeah, where are you?

**Alexander Wissner-Gross** (1:33)
I'm in the first R&D small of Paris today, slowly making my way to Davos for World Economic Forum 2026

**Dave Blundin** (1:42)
Taking like a horse and buggy or something? Or you can fly direct to Zurich.

**Alexander Wissner-Gross** (1:46)
Taking the slow route. Scenic route.

**Peter Diamandis** (1:48)
Amazing. And Salim.

**Dave Blundin** (1:51)
Paris in January.

**Salim Ismail** (1:52)
I've usurped your normal recording spot. So this is your background and your mic and everything.

**Peter Diamandis** (1:57)
So I'm totally taking up repeatable. Yeah, so Salim is here in Santa Monica. We have an XPRIZE board meeting today. Dave, you're going to be joining the board meeting by Zoom?

**Dave Blundin** (2:05)
Yeah.

**Peter Diamandis** (2:05)
Or you're not here?

**Dave Blundin** (2:08)
I'm with Ray here in Boston, actually. We're in the happening spot, but I'm going to be flying straight from here to Davos on Sunday, where Alex and I will be hanging out with Dennis Osabas and the whole gang.

**Peter Diamandis** (2:19)
Amazing. I just got back from Singapore. I had an extraordinary visit there. I was the guest of an incredible bank, DBS. Sushan, who's the CEO. A big shout out to Sushan. Thank you for an incredible visit to Singapore. She's a Singularity University alum and a fan of our pod. So, I just think the world of Singapore can't wait to get back there. DBS is doing extraordinary work. So, a big shout out to the team there. Gentlemen, we have an extraordinary guest today, someone who all of us count as our mentors. He's been a mentor for me for the last 20 years. We're here with the incredible Ray Kurzweil, one of the world's leading thinkers and futurists.
He's been called the relentless genius, the ultimate thinking machine. He's got a 30-year track record of accurate predictions regarding the evolution of technology in the future. If you go to Wikipedia, you can check it out, an 86% accuracy rate on his predictions. He's an inventor of the CCD Flatbeck Scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine, the Kurzweil synthesizer, the author of The Law of Accelerating Returns, we'll be talking about that. The author of two books that have set the foundation for all the conversations we have here in Moonshots. The Singularity is Near in 2005 More recently, The Singularity is Nearer in 2024 He's the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He has 21 honorary doctorates. He's been honored by three US presidents and really the gentleman who has popularized and driven the term Singularity, which he famously predicts will happen in the year 2045 Ray, it is an honor and a pleasure to have you here, buddy.

**Dave Blundin** (4:14)
And a bucket list item.

**Ray Kurzweil** (4:15)
Absolutely. It's great to be here. Always great to talk with you, Peter, Salim, Salim.

**Peter Diamandis** (4:22)
Yeah, no, and got to love those suspenders, buddy. You are fashionable on the exponential world.