A leading computer scientist has expressed strong beliefs that we are currently living in a simulated reality, and he also predicts that artificial intelligence will take over 99 percent of jobs by the year 2027.

During a recent episode of the “Diary Of A CEO” podcast hosted by Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett, Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy, a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Louisville, issued a stark warning. He suggested that AI could pose a threat to humanity’s survival and suggested we are on the brink of a worldwide collapse.

Dr. Yampolskiy, who has been funded by billionaire Elon Musk for research into advanced intelligent systems and is the author of the book “AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable,” asserted that the likelihood of us living in a simulation is extremely high.

He cautioned that AI could potentially lead to human extinction if misused by individuals with harmful intentions.

In his conversation on the podcast, Dr. Yampolskiy stated, “I can foresee that even before we achieve super-intelligence, someone might develop a sophisticated biological tool capable of creating a new virus that could affect everyone or nearly everyone. It’s a scenario I can imagine.”

He elaborated, “There are numerous psychopaths, terrorists, and doomsday cults in the world. Historically, these groups have attempted to inflict mass casualties. Although they typically fail, they do manage to cause significant harm.”

‘But if they get technology to kill millions of billions, they would do that gladly.’

He even revealed why he believes AI has now got to the stage where we could be living in a simulation. 

Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy revealed he is ‘almost certain’ that we are living in a simulation and claims AI will take 99 percent of jobs by 2027

Simulation theory believers argue that our universe, and everything inside of it, is nothing more than a computer simulation created by a technologically advanced civilisation.

The theory was made popular by philosopher Nick Bostrom, who outlines three possibilities: that advanced civilizations go extinct before developing the technology to create such simulations; they choose not to create them; or if they do, then advanced simulations would vastly outnumber base realities.

Dr. Yampolskiy added: ‘AI is getting to the level of creating human-like agents and virtual reality is getting to the level of being indistinguishable from ours.

‘If you believe we can create human level AI and you believe we can create reality as good as this. I’m pretty sure we are in a simulation.

‘The moment this is affordable, I’m going to run billions of simulations of this exact interview.’

He added: ‘If you have the technology, we’re definitely running a lot of simulations for research, for entertainment, games, all sorts of reasons. 

‘And the number of those greatly exceeds the number of real worlds we’re in. Look at all the video games kids are playing. 

‘Every kid plays 10 different games. There’s, you know, billion kids in the world. So there is 10 billion simulations in one real world.’

Appearing on Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett’s (pictured) The Diary of a CEO podcast, Dr. Yampolskiy warned AI could end humanity and claimed we are heading towards global collapse

Steven, hosting the podcast asked: ‘What percentage are you at in terms of believing that we are currently living in a simulation?’ 

Dr. Yampolskiy replied: ‘Very close to certainty.’ 

As AI systems continue to grow in intelligence at an ever–faster rate, many believe the day will come when a ‘superintelligent AI’ becomes more powerful than its creators.

But key figures in AI, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who once called for more regulation on the emerging technology, are now fighting against ‘overregulation’.

Elsewhere the professor, who has published over 100 papers on the dangers of AI, claimed AI will take 99 percent of jobs by 2027. 

He claimed there was no point in retraining in something else as there will eventually be no jobs for humans. 

He explained: ‘Look at computer science. Two years ago, we told people learn to code. You are an artist, you cannot make money? Learn to code. Then we realised, oh, AI kind of knows how to code and is getting better. 

‘Become a prompt engineer. You can engineer prompts for AI. It’s going to be a great job. Get a four-year degree in it. But then we’re like, AI is way better at designing prompts for other AI’s than any human. So that’s gone. 

Elsewhere the professor, who published over 100 papers on the dangers of AI, claimed AI will take 99 percent of jobs by 2027

‘So I can’t really tell you right now. The hardest thing is design AI agents for practical applications. I guarantee you in a year or two it’s going to be gone just as well.’ 

Speaking in the podcast, the scientist went on to argue that religion is another indicator that we could potentially be living in a simulation, pointing out that most faiths include a ‘super intelligent’ being responsible for creating the world. 

Dr. Yampolskiy explained: ‘If you look, every religion basically describes a super intelligent being, an engineer, a programmer creating a fake world for testing purposes or for whatever. 

‘But if you took the simulation hypothesis paper, you go to jungle, you talk to primitive people, a local tribe and in their language you tell them about it. 

‘Go back two generations later. They have religion. That’s basically what the story is. Religion.’

While the professor believes we could all be character-created by another species, he claims if he is correct, then it doesn’t actually change anything about how we should live our lives. 

He said: ‘So all the things you care about are still the same. Pain still hurts. Love is still love, right? Like those things are not different. So it doesn’t matter. 

‘They’re still important. That’s what matters. The little one percent difference is that I care about what’s outside the simulation. 

‘I want to learn about it. I write papers about it. So that’s the only impact.’

AI is growing increasingly intelligent – but some are worried it may cause future problems for humans (stock image)

However Dr. Yampolskiy said it’s not all doom and gloom as the government may be able to step in to provide ‘basic needs for people’.  

He said: ‘The economic part seems easy. If you create a lot of free labor, you have a lot of free wealth, abundance, things which are right now not very affordable become dirt cheap and so you can provide for everyone’s basic needs. 

‘Some people say you can provide beyond basic needs. You can provide very good existence for everyone. The hard problem is what do you do with all that free time?

‘Now you have people who are chilling all day. What happens to society? How does that impact crime rate, pregnancy rate, all sorts of issues? Nobody thinks about.’