Arm CEO Says AI Could Help Cure Cancer Within Our Lifetime

Summary

Rene Haas, chief executive of Arm Holdings, told the BBC that artificial intelligence could help find a cure for cancer within his lifetime. He said modelling cells, humans and the effects of cancer on DNA markers is currently too complex, but that larger models and more powerful computers could eventually solve the problem. Chris Bakal of the Institute of Cancer Research said the crucial issue for medical AI is the quality of the measurements and patient-sample data used to train it, rather than simply the size of the computer. Haas also predicted that AI-enabled humanoid robots could become widespread within five years and support manufacturing, cleaning, security, construction and repair work within a decade. He argued that estimates of mass job replacement are overstated and that new opportunities would offset some losses. Haas said Arm technology is used in half of AI data centers worldwide, while demand for Arm’s own chips, including a chip developed for Meta, had exceeded $2 billion since its March launch. He warned that shortages of chips and fabrication capacity are holding back data-center expansion, including proposed multi-gigawatt facilities, and said he does not expect large-scale chip fabrication to return to the UK because of its cost, specialized labor needs and resource requirements.