Will computers surpass the human brain? Ray Kurzweil thinks so. Judging by the accuracy of his past predictions, this one will come true, too. Kurzweil is responsible for inventing, among other things, the first voice-recognition software to turn simple words into text. But he is also known for presaging the rise of the Internet and the widespread use of synthesizers to create commercial music. His prediction that the world’s top… read more

“By 2030 we’ll have full-immersion, shared, virtual-reality environments.” Speech technology pioneer Ray Kurzweil is the author of The Age of Intelligent Machines and The Age of Spiritual Machines. He was interviewed by David Kirkpatrick.

A very important aspect of the future is going to be virtual reality — our ability to relate with each other in new ways, much more intimate ways, facilitated by technology. We’ve had one form… read more

Ray Kurzweil is a best-selling author, inventor, futurist, and Director of Engineering at Google. He has been described as “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal, and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison.”

PolicyMic editor Michael McCutcheon recently spoke with Ray Kurzweil about how technology and artificial intelligence can and should be used to address climate change and save the planet.… read more

Inventor Ray Kurzweil hopes to develop ways for humans to live forever, and while he’s at it, bring back his dead father. Behind him is the support of a tech giant. This month, Kurzweil, a futurist, stepped into the role of Director of Engineering at Google, focusing on machine learning and language processing.

“There is a lot of suffering in the world,” Kurzweil once said, according… read more

Futurist, artificial intelligence expert and inventor Ray Kurzweil will join Google as its director of engineering. Kurzweil’s profile is such that it was he — and not his new employer — who announced the new gig, and on his own website to boot.

Kurzweil also says he feels Google is his kind of place to work, and not just for the free food. Just what Kurzweil’s arrival… read more

Think we’ll have artifical intelligence by 2029? Ray Kurzweil does. He is simultaneously idolized and infamous for saying so. And now he will put his ideas to the test. On Friday, Kurzweil announced he’s accepted a position with technology giant Google as Director of Engineering. Like all things exponential, the new relationship is on the fast track—he starts Monday.

Singularity Hub reached out to Kurzweil to… read more