Marc Andreessen famously said that software will eat the world. However, AI is now consuming software itself. As time goes by and AI systems become more efficient, human labor will be of lesser importance. For example, in the beginning stages of microchip manufacturing, Karnaugh maps were used to manually devise circuits. Today, those circuits are so small that only a machine can design a circuit model.

Many people dread the future, as our imaginations are filled with Terminator-esque images of metal skeletons crushing human skulls. It seems like a comeuppance for what we did to our fellow Neanderthals. The day of reckoning has finally arrived. Yet, as Neanderthal DNA still exists within our genes, there is hope that humanity will maintain a presence in the future of intelligence, albeit in a lesser role.

The development of AI reaching general intelligence is inevitable. In the meantime, we will use AI to augment our cognitive capacity. Today, accessing AI tools can be somewhat clumsy, just as it was difficult to access data on the early internet with bulky computers and 56k modems. As technology advances, AI will become more accessible, with AI suggestions being fed directly to our brains, not unlike our conscience but with a different set of biases and at a much faster speed.

As we augment our capabilities, our bodies will adapt. The brain, such an energy hog, could become more efficient if we outsource hard questions to the cloud. Soon, everyone will be connected to the same intelligence, bringing Carl Jung’s theories to life as we develop a true collective intelligence.

We will not be destroyed by machines; rather, we will be part of them. And that’s good.