Magazine | Longevity: AI’s First Philanthropic Goal

Longevity: AI’s First Philanthropic Goal

Lifespan Extension Interventions Aging Research AI
Written by Rishik Dhar 5 min read
Longevity: AI’s First Philanthropic Goal

The Impending Global Population Collapse

We all have heard about the overpopulation problem Earth is facing. With so many people it is getting harder and harder to scale resources to meet this growing demand. If someone told us that this growth is only an illusion and that the world population is actually going to decline significantly over the next 100 years. Would that be enough for you to sit up and pay close attention? In contrast to what we thought was going to be the number one problem facing our generation, we might instead have to worry about the rapidly shrinking human population. 

Scientists today believe that we might have miscalculated the runaway population growth scenario. As evidence they present the total fertility rate (TFR), representing the average number of live children a woman bears. This number has been consistently falling since the 1970s, dropping below the "replacement rate" of 2.1 in more and more countries. The US TFR fell below 2.0 in 1973, the UK in 1974, South Korea in 1984, and China in 1991. Current fertility rates include: South Korea (0.68), Japan (1.37), Iran (1.6), and India (2.0). Projections indicate a significant global population decrease in the coming decades, with some radical estimates suggesting the world population could be as low as one-tenth of its current size in a hundred years, or even 250 million by 2200.

"There are scenarios that the world population a hundred years on may only be one-tenth of what it is now." - says Dr. Subhash Kak.

Increasing Age of the Population

A shrinking total fertility rate (TFR) implies an increasingly aging population. As per the 2023 census, the US has 17% of the population above the age of 65 that is about 57 Million older adults. By 2040, there will be about 87 Million people in that age group. And if the TFR numbers are to be believed the 87 Million might represent up to 30% of the total US population.

“Older Adults Outnumber Children in Nearly Half of U.S. Counties in 2024” - US Census Bureau

Consequences of aging and low TFR

Growing non-discretionary spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest payments on national debt are exacerbated by an aging population. "Most of the reason we spend more than we make comes down to exploding non-discretionary spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest payments on our high national debt", says Drory. Adults aged 65 and older are 18% of the population, but they account for 36% of healthcare spending. Pension systems are designed for a higher ratio of working-age individuals to retirees. As populations age and shrink, these systems become insolvent. 

"Japan is approaching one working age person for each pensioner and China will soon have one working age person for two pensioners, and clearly these ratios are unsustainable." - says Dr. Kak.

"Social security is going bankrupt" says Omri Drory.

Extending Human Healthspan

We cannot ignore the long-term economic benefits from extending human healthspan. a) Reduced Healthcare Costs and Increased Wealth Accumulation b) Stronger Retirement Systems c) Experienced Workers. Healthy older people spend significantly less on healthcare. A longer period of peak earning potential leads to greater individual wealth and increased investment throughout the economy. If people remain productive longer, they contribute to the economy. Longevity allows the retention of "most experienced and productive workers during their peak contribution years. A single year of life expectancy improvement of the older population can generate economic value equal to 4-5% of annual GDP.

Slowing down aging enough to raise life expectancy by just one year is worth $38 trillion to the United States alone. 10 years is worth $367 trillion.", says Drory

The Role of AI in Achieving Longevity

Advances in biotechnology and related interventions might give rise to critical solutions to these impending crises. Drory argues that "keeping people young, healthy and productive can genuinely address some of these challenges." As per him, the issue is not living longer, but "getting old with multiple chronic conditions."  Consequently, longevity technology should aim to extend health span (healthy, productive years), not just the lifespan. "Today, humans live about 15-20 years longer, but we haven’t proportionally increased our health span—the number of healthy, productive years we have", says Drory. 

While it is clear extending the health span might benefit the human race tremendously; we foresee the use of AI in helping humans overcome personal barriers in achieving longevity. Physiologically, AI can detect symptoms or changes in the human body that can serve as early warning flags. Emotionally, AI can provide support to deal with challenging life situations. Psychologically, AI can provide grounding and non-judgemental outlook that can gently modify behavior. Socially, AI can keep you connected and engaged so that you are not isolated or deprived of attention when you need it. AI is already bringing down the cost of running tasks that only need internet and cloud computing resources. It is not too hard to anticipate that AI products will soon be serving the Longevity needs.

For starters, AI can be used to empower people with a comprehensive understanding of their personal health data, giving back full control on the life decisions, which include health and wellness decisions too. From the developments in the field, it is not a far-fetched idea to imagine that AI can be trained to develop a philanthropic personality so that it can interact with humans with deep empathy, care and genuine concern.

Published: July 15th, 2025

References

1. The coming population collapse
2. An Indian-American computer scientist, currently a Regents Professor in the Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater
3. Older Adults Outnumber Children in Nearly Half of U.S. Counties in 2024
4. Launching NFX Bio and The Rise of the Scientist Founder
5. Omry Drory is a “Scientist-CEO”, who founded Genome Compiler, a company that developed software for genetic engineers and synthetic biologists. He was a Fullbright Postdoc Scholar in biochemistry and molecular biology at Stanford University & HHMI.
Rishik Dhar

Author: Rishik Dhar

I am the Founder/CEO of DataSense Inc. (DataSenseLabs). We launched SolidHealth.AI in April 2025 - we enable healthcare seekers to track their health history, seamlessly carrying their data across providers and receiving powerful insights and recommendations to make the best healthcare decisions for themselves. It is like tracking personal Health Net Worth. Visit us at [SolidHealth.AI](https://solidhealth.ai)

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