Ray Kurzweil is an American computer scientist, inventor, and futurist celebrated for his bold forecasts about exponential technological growth and the coming technological singularity.1 Over five decades he has pioneered innovations ranging from optical-character recognition to electronic music keyboards and now serves as a principal researcher at Google. Kurzweil's best-selling books, including The Singularity Is Near, have shaped global conversations on artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and human longevity.
Driving Vision of the Technological Singularity
Kurzweil popularised the "Law of Accelerating Returns," arguing that computing power and other information technologies grow exponentially, leading to disruptive change.2 He predicts that artificial intelligence will match human-level intelligence by 2029 and that a technological singularity—where machine and human intelligences merge—will arrive around 2045.3 His ideas, once controversial, increasingly influence tech policy, investment, and research agendas worldwide.
Breakthroughs in Speech and Reading Technologies
Beginning with the Kurzweil Reading Machine in 1976, he introduced the first omni-font optical-character-recognition system paired with text-to-speech, giving visually impaired readers access to print.4 He later developed early commercial speech-recognition software and the Kurzweil K250 synthesizer, which could convincingly emulate real instruments.5 These inventions earned him the National Medal of Technology and cemented his reputation as a prolific innovator.
Pursuit of Radical Longevity and Transhumanism
A vocal advocate of life-extension science, Kurzweil follows an intensive health regimen and predicts that advances in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics will enable humans to reach "longevity escape velocity" in the 2030s.6 He co-founded Singularity University to prepare leaders for a future where biological and artificial intelligences converge, and supports policies such as universal basic income to navigate the socioeconomic shifts he foresees.