It was the first thing I saw when I stepped into the lab.
"AI WILL TAkE OVER THE WORLD."
Written in red, on the whiteboard.
This was 2018. An age when deep learning had just taken off. I was working on ML that can detect lung cancer in chest images at Massachusetts General Hospital.
But I was doubtful. If machines were to really take over the world, why the hell are these radiologists working so hard to automate away their own jobs?
Fast forward 7 years, that phrase is more true than ever. But AI will not take over their jobs. At least not yet.
There have been countless anecdotes across the internet claiming ChatGPT was able to diagnose symptoms and save lives without the help of a doctor.
I don't doubt that. AI will raise efficiencies at emergency rooms and clinics, eliminate overhead at hospitals, but at the end of the day, it is the physicians who make the decisions and heal the patients.
AI is integrated into our future.
The world is already heading in a direction where humans are no longer building things just for humans to use.
Softwares are being designed with AI agents in mind, who will be crawling all over the web. Webpages of the (present and) future will contain metadata (e.g. llms.txt) that will allow AI to easily interact and use. Software designs will be both human and AI-centric.
So yes, that phrase is true. And I am going to add an addendum for 2025:
AI will take over the world. But not without us, the companionship of humans.