Arm Holdings CEO: AI will help find a cure for cancer 'within our lifetimes'
核心洞察
Rene Haas, chief executive of Arm Holdings (搜索), stated that artificial intelligence will find a cure for cancer (搜索) "within our lifetimes," a feat he says humans alone cannot achieve.
Haas explained that modelling how a DNA marker is impacted by cancer (搜索) is currently "too complex" for both humans and existing AI computers, but advancing models will eventually solve it.
Prof Chris Bakal of the Institute of Cancer (搜索) Research, London, emphasized that the future of medical AI depends on "the right measurements" rather than the biggest computers, which could cut years from treatment development.
The chief executive of Arm Holdings (搜索), the largest technology company headquartered in the UK, has claimed that artificial intelligence will be able to find a cure for cancer (搜索) "within our lifetimes" — a breakthrough he says humans alone cannot achieve.
Rene Haas, who leads the Cambridge-based chip designer, told the BBC that while modelling how a DNA marker is affected by cancer (搜索) is currently "too complex" a problem for either humans or technology, computers are "going to solve it" in the future.
"AI is going to... find a cure for cancer (搜索) that today you and I, other humans [could] not in our lifetimes. I believe in our lifetime, AI will help cure cancer," Haas said.
He elaborated on the scale of the challenge: "Modelling a cell, modelling a human, modelling how a DNA marker is impacted by cancer (搜索) — it's too complex a problem, not only for humans today, but the computers that run AI. However, going forward, as we feed more and more of the models into these computers, and the computers get more sophisticated to run the models, they're going to solve it."
The role of data and measurement in medical AI
While Haas framed the challenge in terms of computational power, other experts emphasized that the quality of data — not the size of the computer — will determine AI's impact on medicine.
Prof Chris Bakal, from the Institute of Cancer (搜索) Research, London, and CEO of Sentinal4D, said the real question was no longer whether we use AI, but what we feed it.
"It is not scraped from the internet. It does not need a giant data centre to run. The future of medical AI will not belong to whoever builds the biggest computer. It will belong to whoever has the right measurements," Bakal said.
"That kind of prediction could cut years from the time it takes to develop new treatments. This is where AI delivers real benefit to patients."
AI already in clinical use
Scientists are already deploying AI-driven tools in cancer (搜索) research and testing. Earlier this year, the NHS said more than 4 million patients received faster lung diagnosis thanks to funding in AI-powered X-ray tools.
Chip shortages constrain AI's growth
Haas cautioned that AI's rapid expansion is currently being held back by a shortage of the chips needed to build data centres. He pointed to plans for massive "multi-gigawatt" data centres in France and the US, as well as proposals to place them in space.
"We are absolutely in a supply-constrained environment. Can you get enough chips? We need more fabs [chip factories] before we can put a data centre in space," Haas said.
He was, however, sceptical about the prospect of chip manufacturing being established in the UK, despite government talks with the industry about bringing parts of the physical chip supply chain onshore.
"I don't think it's necessary for the UK to [build] fabs. Fabs are very expensive. They take a lot of specialised workers. They take a lot of natural resources, and there's a pretty broad ecosystem for those," he said.
Broader ambitions in robotics and AI
Beyond cancer (搜索) research, Haas predicted that AI would pave the way for widespread humanoid robots within the next five years, with the chips Arm designs fuelling self-learning robots "in a very large way" across manufacturing, cleaning, security, building bridges, and repairs within a decade.
"With artificial intelligence, these robots can see, learn, and essentially be reprogrammed for new tasks. So, in the service industry, the robot that was programmed to make a bed can also learn how to arrange the towels in a room, or clean the dustbins, or whatever you want to go off and do," he said.
Addressing concerns that AI would lead to mass job losses, Haas said that while there would be some change for workers, "the estimates of jobs going away and being completely replaced by machines is a bit overstated" and outweighed by new opportunities.
Arm's evolving business
Arm, which is listed in New York but retains its global headquarters in Cambridge, has about 500 users of its chip designs worldwide, including Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and Nvidia. The company employs more than 7,000 staff, including about 3,000 in the UK, and is valued at $269bn (£199bn).
Haas, who joined Arm in 2013 and became chief executive in 2022, was also recently named chief executive of SoftBank's international business. The Japanese bank is one of the biggest tech investors in the world, with a stake in ChatGPT maker OpenAI (搜索). Haas stepped down from the board of British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in April.
The company has seen a significant evolution in its business in recent months, selling its own microchips. Facebook-owner Meta asked Arm to develop the Arm AGI chip, and "demand has been off the charts," according to Haas, with more than $2bn worth of demand since it was launched in March.