AI could ‘devastate' Earth's population down to the size of the UK by 2300, expert warns: ‘People really don't have a clue'
Are we facing tech-stinction?
An Oklahoma tech expert predicted that artificial intelligence will become so omnipresent on the planet that Earth — with a current estimated population of about 8 billion — will have just 100 million people left by the year 2300.
'It's going to be devastating for society and world society,' Subhash Kak, who teaches computer science at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, told the Sun. 'I think people really don't have a clue.'
Advertisement
However, the 'Age of Artificial Intelligence' author doesn't think this dystopian future will come about via nuclear war or other 'Terminator'-evoking scenarios, but rather through replacing our jobs.
3 This dystopian scene from 2009's 'Terminator Salvation' could have a basis in reality. '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 100 million people on the entire planet Earth in 2300 or 2380,' Kak warned.
Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
'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,' said Kak.
Advertisement
Currently, techsperts fear that AI is rendering humanity obsolete in every sector, from law to academia and even romance.
As a result, they suggest, birth rates will plunge as people will be hesitant to have kids who are destined to be unemployed, especially given the exorbitant costs of rearing children.
3 The professor feared people wouldn't want to have children who are destined to be unemployed.
AFP via Getty Images
Without people making babies, the global population will suffer an apocalyptic blow, Kak theorized.
Advertisement
'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 100 million people on the entire planet Earth in 2300 or 2380,' he warned of the shocking drop.
With only that many people left on the planet — which Kak noted was just over the population of the UK — great metropolises such as London and New York will quickly turn into ghost towns, according to the professor.
3 Passengers on the London Eye watch the London skyline as smoke is seen in the distance on Dec. 11, 2005.
Getty Images
Advertisement
'I have all the data in the book. This is not just my personal opinion,' said the computer scientist, who claims this population shrinkflation is happening before our eyes.
'People have stopped having babies. Europe, China, Japan, and the most rapid fall in population right now is taking place in Korea,' Kak declared. 'Now, I'm not saying that these trends will continue, but it's very hard to reverse them because a lot of people have children for a variety of reasons.'
He added, 'One is, of course, social. In the back of your mind, you have a sense of what the future is going to be like.'
Kak invoked the warnings of SpaceX's Elon Musk, who has been quite vocal about plummeting birth rates and population decline and has used it as a rationale for colonizing Mars.
'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,' said Kak.
And while he's not sure whether humanity will go extinct, he said that 'what is absolutely certain is that there is a population collapse occurring right before our eyes.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
In Photos: Sharpest-Ever Views Of The Sun's Surface Reveal ‘Stripes'
Scientists using the world's biggest solar telescope in Hawaii have captured the sharpest-ever view of the sun's surface. In doing so, they've identified super-fine 'stripes' and 'magnetic curtains' on the sun for the first time, which could help in understanding how the sun behaves — and how its energetic events can threaten Earth. It comes in the wake of the same telescope's spectacular image of a planet-sized cluster of sunspots covering 241 million square miles of the sun's surface, which was published in April. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is the world's largest solar telescope, situated atop the 10,000-foot-tall Haleakalā volcano in Hawaii. A 13-foot/four-meter solar ground-based telescope, it's designed to help solar physicists investigate the physics of the sun and how it drives space weather. The ultra-fine magnetic 'stripes' observed by the DKIST are bright and dark striations that appear to be rippling across the sun. The incredible detail reveals curtain-like magnetic fields and a new layer of complexity in the sun's magnetic structure. 'We investigate the fine-scale structure of the solar surface for the first time with an unprecedented spatial resolution of just about 20 kilometers or the length of Manhattan Island,' said Dr. David Kuridze, the lead author of the study, published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and a scientist at the National Solar Observatory. 'These striations are the fingerprints of fine-scale magnetic field variations.' What causes the 'stripes' are magnetic fluctuations, which only DKIST's huge 4-meter mirror can detect. 'Magnetism is a fundamental phenomenon in the universe, and similar magnetically induced stripes have also been observed in more distant astrophysical objects, such as molecular clouds,' said Dr. Han Uitenbroek, co-author of the study and an NSO scientist. A deeper understanding of how magnetism works on the sun is essential if astronomers are to understand the origin of solar flares, eruptions and coronal mass ejections — powerful events that charge up the solar wind and can cause geomagnetic storms around Earth. Approximately 93 million miles from Earth, the sun is a middle-aged star, having existed for approximately five billion years. It burns around five million tons of hydrogen fuel every second. 'This is just one of many firsts for the Inouye, demonstrating how it continues to push the frontier of solar research,' said Dr. David Boboltz, NSO Associate Director for the DKIST. 'It also underscores Inouye's vital role in understanding the small-scale physics that drive space weather events that impact our increasingly technological society here on Earth.' DKIST's stunning 'first light' images showed a close-up view of the sun's surface, revealing turbulent 'boiling' plasma across the entire star. The cell-like structures are violent motions that transport heat from the inside of the sun to its surface. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tech Professor Issues Stark Warning: AI May Slash Global Population to 100 Million
A computer science professor from Oklahoma State University is warning that artificial intelligence could trigger a massive population collapse, leaving Earth with just 100 million people by the year 2300. And it wouldn't happen through nuclear war or robot uprisings, he says. Just pure, relentless obsolescence. 'It's going to be devastating for society,' said Subhash Kak, author of The Age of Artificial Intelligence, in an interview with The Sun. 'I think people really don't have a clue.' Kak believes that while robots will never become conscious, they will replace most human jobs, including those in law, education, and even relationships. That widespread redundancy, combined with the high cost of raising children, could convince future generations to stop having kids altogether.'There are demographers who are suggesting that as a consequence, the world population will collapse,' he explained. 'It could go down to as low as just 100 million people on the entire planet Earth in 2300 or 2380.' That's roughly the population of the United Kingdom today, meaning massive cities like New York or Tokyo could become ghost towns. Currently, roughly eight billion humans live on the planet, so that's a dramatic change in the next few centuries. Kak pointed to current birthrate trends in developed nations as a warning sign. 'People have stopped having babies,' he said. 'Europe, China, Japan—and the most rapid fall in population right now is taking place in Korea.' Echoing Elon Musk's concerns about population collapse, Kak even floated the idea of building colonies in space to ensure humanity's survival. 'Should such a tragedy hit Earth, then it could be reseeded,' he said. Whether we're headed for extinction or just dramatic downsizing, Kak insists the shift is already happening. 'What is absolutely certain,' he said, 'is that there is a population collapse occurring right before our eyes.'Tech Professor Issues Stark Warning: AI May Slash Global Population to 100 Million first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 4, 2025
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Drinking Coffee Linked to Healthy Aging in Middle-Aged Women
The study followed 47,513 middle-aged female nurses under the age of 60 for three decades, starting in 1986. Credit - Getty Images—Copyright by Franziska & Tom Werner Good news for coffee lovers: A new study suggests drinking a cup—or several—each day could be linked to long-term health benefits. The study, presented on Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando, found that roughly 3,700 women who met researchers' criteria for 'healthy aging' typically consumed an average of 315 mg of caffeine per day when they were between the ages of 45 and 60, mostly from drinking coffee. And for the women in that group of 'healthy agers,' each extra cup of coffee per day was associated with a 2-5% higher chance of faring well as they aged, up to five small cups per day. 'We found that women who consumed moderate amounts of caffeinated coffee in midlife were more likely to age in good health,' Sara Mahdavi, an adjunct professor in the University of Toronto's department of nutritional sciences who led the research, told TIME in an email. 'That's not to say coffee is a cure-all, but for those who already drink and tolerate it well, it appears to be a positive part of a healthy lifestyle.' The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed or published, followed 47,513 middle-aged female nurses under the age of 60 for three decades, starting in 1986. Researchers asked the women questions about their diet, such as how much coffee, tea, cola, and decaffeinated coffee they drank. They then analyzed how many of those women met their requirements for 'healthy aging,' which they defined as living to age 70 or older; maintaining good physical, cognitive, and mental health; and being free from 11 major chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer, among others. In 2016, researchers determined that 3,706 of the women met their criteria, and found the link to their caffeine intake. The study didn't find any significant link between drinking decaf coffee or tea and the likelihood of healthy aging. And for soda, it found an opposite correlation: Each additional small glass was associated with a 20-26% lower likelihood of healthy aging. Read more: Should You Take a Vitamin D Supplement? Mahdavi said coffee is 'uniquely rich in bioactive compounds,' containing ingredients like chlorogenic acids and small amounts of micronutrients that may influence factors critical to how we age, such as inflammation, blood vessel function, and glucose metabolism. Tea and decaf coffee may also contain some of those ingredients, but in different concentrations. 'Cola, on the other hand, lacks these altogether and contains other ingredients that may work against healthy aging,' Mahdavi said. 'Our findings suggest that the observed benefits are specific to caffeinated coffee, not caffeine itself, and not to all caffeinated beverages.' While Mahdavi said the findings are significant, she also advised caution. The study found an association between coffee and healthy aging, but not a cause-and-effect relationship. Researchers pointed out that, generally, drinking up to two cups of coffee a day should be safe and could be beneficial for people, but drinking more than that may not be healthy for some, though it may offer additional benefits for others. And coffee can't replace other factors that affect aging, Mahdavi said. 'Women who aged best were also more likely to eat well, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking—those behaviors matter much more,' Mahdavi said. 'Also, more isn't necessarily better. The clearest benefits were seen with moderate coffee intake—about 2 to 4 cups a day. People who are sensitive to caffeine or have medical reasons to avoid it should still do so.' 'But for women in midlife who already drink coffee and feel well doing so, these findings are reassuring,' she said. Contact us at letters@
