As artificial intelligence reshapes the world at an unprecedented pace, Peter Diamandis opines about abundance, disruption, and how individuals might orient themselves in an accelerating future
“Which parts are you not believing?”
It is a sharp response but you’d expect nothing less from Peter Diamandis. Often described as a techno-optimist, the serial entrepreneur and philanthropist has been fielding questions about his work and beliefs with characteristic fervour. However, sensing a few raised eyebrows in the room, he is ready to take on any doubters.
Diamandis, whose projects span space exploration, longevity research, and incentive-driven science, champions technology as a force for good. Beyond establishing the Xprize Foundation, a non-profit organisation created to spur innovation through large-scale prize competitions, he spent decades advocating for exponential technologies that will help create better lives.
In his book Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, from 2012, he argues that the continued acceleration of technology, as well as the rise of individual innovators, is the answer to the world’s most pressing problems.
“No company in any industry is going to look the same five years from now. Will the world be better off in the future, when resources become accessible and abundant to everybody? I believe so,” says Diamandis.
His belief is partly bolstered by the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. While sceptics warn of job displacement and social upheaval, Diamandis sees AI less as a threat than as a foundational tool that lowers costs and expands access at an unprecedented scale.
“We’re unleashing intelligence as a service,” says Diamandis. “I would never have imagined that the most powerful technology in the world, these large language models, would be available to billions of people for free. As AI becomes cheaper and more capable, it’s going to empower people in ways that they never had access to before.”
More than just accessibility, Diamandis believes that AI—in the hands of self-motivated entrepreneurs and innovators—will have huge transformative power. He even predicts it will solve “almost every problem we have”.
“Fundamental research used to only be the parlance of governments,” he explains. “But a lot of the scientific breakthroughs are going to come from individuals using AI who are not dependent on government funding. There’s a rapid restructuring of society going on.”
It is this idea of a quick and forceful restructuring of society that gives pause. Diamandis is candid about the lack of a ‘velocity knob’ when it comes to technological acceleration as well as the fear and anxieties that accompany it. Although he believes that emerging technologies will enable people to pursue their purpose in life beyond priorities of survival, Diamandis also acknowledges that the upheaval of familiar societal structures will be a challenge.
Illustrating how society has functioned since the industrial revolution, he sees a disruption to the tried-and-tested route of people going to school, getting a job, and working as hard as they can. “We’ve depended upon the idea of going to work for somebody as the mechanism of stability,” he says. “I think there’s going to be a lot of turbulence as we transition forward and restructure people’s beliefs and expectations of how the world should work.”
Given this, a cultural shift is imperative. As technologies become more powerful and accessible, he argues, the locus of agency increasingly falls to individuals and, with it, the responsibility to use these tools to solve real-world problems.
“We have to change the educational system to enable young individuals to become self-motivated, purpose-driven creators instead of consumers,” Diamandis says. “Being an agile self-advocate is extremely important during this period of change. As Darwin said, it’s not survival of the fittest, it’s survival of the most agile.”
This story first appeared in the March 2026 issue. Purchase it as a print or digital copy, or consider subscribing to us here
