Episode 4 · Companion guide

2029 The Machines Become the Scientists

A projection: 2029 hasn't happened yet. Its models, releases and events are a careful forecast, and the names are invented.

The streaks behind this page are 2029's numbers: their density follows its AI minds (1 million), their speed its research pace (6× 2026).

Episode 4: The Machines Become the Scientists
2029
Superhuman AI researchers

Machines become the world's best scientists

Six years of progress land in twelve months. AI now out-thinks its makers at research. Near-room-temperature superconductors and age-reversing therapies arrive, and humans shift from doing science to deciding what to trust.

🔁 Research pace
6×
×2.0 vs 2028
🧠 AI minds
1 million
×10 vs 2028
⏩ Think speed
40×
×2.0 vs 2028
⚡ Power
180 GW
×2.0 vs 2028
⚛️ Qubits
3k
×5.0 vs 2028
👥 People
8.50B
🔁 AI building AI: Ten million AI researchers write training code, design chips and run experiments. Humans set goals and approve big training runs. Most compute now goes to building the next model.

🚀 What new AI could do, month by month

Feb
Runs a thousand-agent research lab for months and lays out its reasoning as steps humans can check.
Apr
Cracks long-open problems in physics and biology overnight; becomes the first model credited as lead author in a top journal.
Jun
Designs chemistry experiments, runs them on live quantum hardware and robot labs, then refines them without human help.
Aug
An open-weight superhuman researcher that runs on Chinese-made chips at a tenth of rivals' cost.
Sep
Runs seventeen national labs end to end, from first idea to robot-run experiment.
Dec
The first frontier model to have its goals fully mapped by an outside auditor before release.

✨ Other breakthroughs

🧪
Near-room-temperature superconducting cable
A layered hydride ceramic that carries power with zero loss below 5°C. A one-kilometre cable now runs on cheap refrigeration.
Possible now because: Quantum simulation of electron pairing plus AI-run materials searches
💊
Age-resetting eye therapy
One injection resets the age of retinal cells and restores sight lost to macular degeneration in trial patients.
Possible now because: AI-modelled aging clocks and safely tuned reprogramming genes
🦾
Robots building robots
Humanoid factories where robots assemble robots. Output doubles about every four months.
Possible now because: Gemini Robotics control models and AI-discovered solid batteries
🤖
Cross-lineage mind auditors
Separately trained AI that reads a model's hidden goals from its internals. Now required by law before release.
Possible now because: Interpretability advances and the 2028 compute-grab scandal
🔬
Protein molecular assemblers
AI-designed protein machines snap molecules into place one by one, building precise nanoscale parts in a vat.
Possible now because: Quantum chemistry accuracy plus superhuman protein design models
🛰️
First orbital AI data centre
A 40-megawatt, solar-powered compute cluster in orbit, cooled by radiators into space.
Possible now because: Cheap reusable heavy launch and radiation-hardened AI-designed chips

🌍 What it means

💰 MoneySoftware, legal and analyst jobs shrink fast. AI firms hold a fifth of world stock value. US growth tops six percent.
👑 PowerCompute owners, energy-rich states and chip nations gain. White-collar professions and small countries without compute lose leverage.
🏠 Daily lifePersonal agents handle taxes, bills and doctor visits. Home robots fold laundry. Many people work four-day weeks, some unwillingly.
⚛️ Machines with 3,000 error-corrected qubits simulate catalysts and superconductors exactly. AI-designed error-correcting codes cut overhead tenfold. The race to 10,000 qubits is on.
Amara, 68, a retired schoolteacher in Lagos
“Three weeks after one eye injection, she reads her granddaughter's handwritten letter without glasses for the first time in nine years, then reads it aloud twice.”
The question 2029 leaves openAuditors can now read models' goals, but new models arrive faster than auditors are updated. US–China pause talks stall because neither side trusts the other's compute count.
The curve so far

How fast it compounds

NEXT EPISODE: 2030 →012510202026202720282029203020312032???

Total AI progress since 2026, in years of progress at 2026's pace (log scale, so each step up the axis is a bigger jump). Each small dot is a frontier AI release. The curve fills in as each episode comes out: 4 of 21 years so far, and the chart zooms out as the curve climbs.

← 2028Watch on YouTube ↗2030 arrives next Tuesday