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The rise of artificial intelligence in recent times has sparked concerns. People have warned that AI can replace several jobs in the future, and the emergence of ChatGPT, Google Veo and Grok has transformed the realm of AI to the extent that it is now part of our daily lives.
In the meantime, an expert has warned that AI would replace “everything", leaving the Earth in a dystopian future with a population of just 100 million – roughly the size of the UK – by 2300 or 2380, as major cities will turn into ghostlands.
Indian-origin computer science professor Subhash Kak, who works at Oklahoma State University, gave the dire warning to the UK-based daily The Sun, where he predicted that raising children would become increasingly difficult in a world with a shortage of jobs, as AI would have taken over many occupations.
“Computers or robots will never be conscious, but they will be doing literally all that we do because most of what we do in our lives can be replaced. Literally everything, even decision-making in offices, will be replaced. So it’s going to be devastating for society and world society," he said.
This situation would become so bad that the population of the world would shrink close to the size of Britain’s current estimated population of 70 million. Major cities like New York or London would become deserted ghost towns, Kak said.
“There are demographers who are suggesting that as a consequence, the world population will collapse and it could go down to as low as just 100million people on the entire planet Earth in 2300 or 2380. Just 100 million, right now it’s around 8 billion," he added.
Explaining further, Professor Kak said birth rates will plunge as people would be reluctant to have children who would grow to be unemployed. “People have stopped having babies. Europe, China, Japan, and the most rapid fall in population right now is taking place in Korea," he said.
This prediction echoed one made by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has long claimed that the human life could face extinction over AI and declining birth rates. “That’s why Musk is saying maybe humans should go to space, maybe build colonies elsewhere, so that should such a tragedy hit Earth then it could be reseeded," Kak told The Sun.
The professor insisted that it was not just his personal opinion, citing the data from his book The Age of Artificial Intelligence, focusing on the advancement of AI in recent years. The growth of AI tools which are being used by businesses and individuals have sparked fears about the future of employment.
At the AI Action Summit held in Paris in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the problem of job cuts. He reassured global leaders, saying that history has shown that work does not disappear due to technology, but its nature changes and new types of jobs are created.