Meet Vinod Khosla: Indian-American billionaire who predicts AI will replace 80% of doctors – The Times of India

Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla says the world is coming closer to a future where artificial intelligence does most of the work done by doctors, leaving humans to focus on care that requires empathy that machines cannot provide.Khosla is an Indian-American venture capitalist, technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He shared his views in a long thread on X, where he revisited predictions he has made over the past decade and pointed to recent breakthroughs that suggest those ideas are moving closer to reality.“For years I’ve shared predictions about how technology would reshape our world. We’re still early in that journey, but we’re getting closer every year,” Khosla said. “Here’s a look back at some of my predictions and the recent progress moving toward them.”One of his most striking claims relates to healthcare. “In 2012, I predicted machines will replace ~80% of what doctors do, leaving humans to do the human element of care,” he said, arguing that advances in data science and software could transform medicine faster than traditional biological research.Khosla believes AI systems will handle diagnosis, monitoring and decision-making at scale, while doctors focus on communication, trust and complex judgement. He has also predicted that “data science & software will do more for medicine in the next decade than all biological sciences combined.”Khosla also pointed out his early involvement with OpenAI. “In 2018, I predicted AI will, inevitably, change the structure of our society and we became the first VC investor in @OpenAI,” he said. He added that the rapid growth of ChatGPT shows how quickly AI can scale and that its global adoption has been faster than many past technologies.Another major theme in his predictions is the democratisation of programming. “Almost two years ago, I predicted there will be a billion+ programmers, ‘coding’ in natural language,” he said.Khosla’s vision extends beyond AI. He predicts breakthroughs in clean energy, including fusion power and superhot geothermal systems, as well as Mach 5 aircraft that could cut travel time between New York and London to 90 minutes. He also claims that every child will one day have access to a personalised AI tutor.Summing up his philosophy, Khosla urged innovators to think boldly. “Ignore the experts and invent the future you want.”