A senior inventor at IBM Hursley Innovation Center forecasted that artificially intelligent nanomachines will be implanted into humans as early as within two decades to repair and enhance the cells, bones, and muscles of the body.
Nanobots And Human Health
Nanobots are very tiny machines, thousands of which can fit across the diameter of a single human hair.
Researchers have been conducting studies on the potentials of these tiny robots in improving human health. In a study published in the journal Nature in Aug. 30, researchers found that nanobots drilled into cancer-affected areas can kill cancerous cells in just one minute.
"We show that molecular machines can drill through cellular bilayers using their molecular-scale actuation, specifically nanomechanical action," study researcher Víctor García-López, from the Department of Chemistry of the Rice University in Houston, Texas, and colleagues wrote in their study.
Experiments are now being conducted, which could eventually lead to clinical trials involving human beings that may potentially pave way to saving the lives of those who suffer from cancer.
Superhumans
Nanobots implanted into the human body may even make possible superhuman strength and ability to control things with the mind in the future.
John McNamara, from IBM Hursley Innovation Centre, who submitted evidence to the House of Lords Artificial Intelligence Committee, which considers the ethical, economic, and social implications of AI, said that artificial intelligence technology may have greatly improved within 20 years that humans and machines could be effectively melded together.
McNamara said that these AI nanomachines implanted into the human body will offer huge medical benefits, which include being able to repair damaged cells and organs and possibly even augment them. He added that this technology, when embedded in humans and in their surroundings, may allow humans to control their environment with only their thoughts and gestures.
"We see the creation of technology that can meld the biological with the technological, and so be able to enhance human cognitive capability directly," McNamara said.
McNamara also predicted the so-called political avatars that can scour available data from news sites and government debates to give people recommendations on who to vote, depending on their views.
Fears
Some, however, are concerned about the unwanted implications of artificial intelligence. For one, humans may start accepting the decisions of machines as better than their own. Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking have been warning that an excess of artificial intelligence may lead to the destruction of the human race.
