Watch Out: By 2029, Robots Will Be Smarter Than People

If you're concerned that robots might one day gain sentience and rise up against the humans, a recent proclamation from Google's director of engineering probably will not calm you: Ray Kurzweil says that by 2029, computers will be smarter than even the smartest people. Kurzweil, a leading artificial intelligence developer, says that by then robots will be able to understand human language and learn from experience, the Independent reports.

The prediction is part of an extensive profile of Kurzweil in the Guardian, which reveals that the 66-year-old "futurologist" thinks he might be able to live forever—he takes 150 pills a day and gets weekly injections of vitamins and dietary supplements in an effort to keep himself alive until life-extending technologies are developed. Kurzweil also thinks Spike Jonze's Her is not so far off—by 2029, he says, computers will also be able to tell jokes and even flirt. And by 2045? Computers will be a billion times more powerful than every one of the planet's human brains, he says. (More Ray Kurzweil stories.)