“It’s almost impossible to speculate as far out as 2040. Some very science-fiction level scenarios are possible, from utopias to nightmares, but it’s also possible that today’s promising avenues will be dead ends, and it is almost certain that things nobody has envisioned will appear.
As we move beyond 2040 to having AIs that possess their own will, I advocate ‘Lennonism’: ‘All you need is love.’ The ideal would be to create beings that love us just as we are also programmed to love our parents/creators, and thus be caring in that sense.
“Some imagine AIs might replace us or keep us as pets. Others imagine a world of AIs as smart as, or smarter than us but which are property that is programmed to make a utopia. The whole spectrum looks more and more within the realm of the possible by 2040. Most hope for AIs that are property, capable but without their own will. That may be what we see in 2040.
“As we move beyond 2040 to having AIs that possess their own will, I advocate ‘Lennonism’: ‘All you need is love.’ The ideal would be to create beings that love us just as we are also programmed to love our parents/creators, and thus be caring in that sense.
“While AIs are property, the main questions will revolve around what humans who own them do with them. There will be grand things, particularly in medicine and education as well as entertainment. Transportation, construction (offering housing and mobility for all) will also be improved, and we can hope that AIs can reduce the bureaucracy and paperwork of modern life. But much disruption is ahead.”
This essay was written in November 2023 in reply to the question: Considering likely changes due to the proliferation of AI in individuals’ lives and in social, economic and political systems, how will life have changed by 2040? This and more than 150 additional essay responses are included in the report “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence by 2040”