Do we need to build God to cure cancer?

AI labs including Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic are promising that artificial intelligence will cure cancer through protein prediction, drug discovery, and recursive self-improvement, but skeptics argue the goal remains unverifiable and the risks of such powerful AI may outweigh the potential rewards. The debate centers on whether AI's pattern-matching capabilities can deliver major medical breakthroughs like early cancer detection and personalized treatments, or whether the technology's destabilizing effects on labor, education, and human identity make the pursuit not worth it.

Do we need to build God to cure cancer? The AI labs keep promising a medical miracle. Not everyone is buying it. We’ve had to put up with a lot when it comes to AI: From taking people’s clothes off on Twitter to helping kids cheat on tests to producing fruit dramas we can’t help but watch just me? . But if AI could cure cancer, the holy grail of biotech, would it all be worth it? And would an AI that was powerful enough to cure cancer be an AI we would even want to live alongside? Now, the bar for a normal business being net positive isn’t “provides a major medical breakthrough.” As staff writer Kelsey Piper recently explained at The Argument ’s San Francisco debate: “I see a billboard. It’s like ‘Here’s cloud infrastructure balancing.’ Is cloud infrastructure balancing going to cure cancer? No, but it’s good… The world is good because of lots of things that are small and make something a little bit better.” Sure, but AI companies carry very different risks from other types of businesses. I’m less convinced than Kelsey by the arguments for potential human extinction https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/if-someone-builds-it-will-everyone , but even if we limit ourselves to potential destabilizations to labor markets https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/ai-could-destroy-the-labor-market , educational institutions, and the very core of what it means to be human, AI has greater risks than any other technology. All major technological breakthroughs are disruptive, but what makes them worth it is they improve living standards. If the risk of AI is truly as great as its creators believe, then the potential rewards better be worth it. After reporting on AI’s scientific capabilities, I found myself becoming cautiously optimistic on the ability of AI to help scientists make major step changes in addressing cancer. AI excels at pattern matching, and that’s one of the main ingredients to diagnosing, treating, and ultimately curing cancer. For example: The five-year survival rate for localized breast cancer is nearly 100%. However, if the cancer metastasizes, it’s around 33% https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-stage-4/ . If AI made us better at catching many types of cancer early, we would already be well on our way to curing it, at least in the way viewed by epidemiologists. What it means to “cure cancer” isn’t totally straightforward. Does it mean the possibility of remission is eliminated? That the five-year survival rate for cancer survivors is indistinguishable from the non-cancer-having population? When Google’s Demis Hassabis says AlphaFold will one day cure cancer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XF-NG 35NE , he’s referring to AI tools that can speed up protein prediction and drug discovery. AlphaFold doesn’t work like the typical LLMs or promise a magic cancer-curing pill, but it could allow us to gradually develop therapeutics. OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, meanwhile, shared https://x.com/gdb/status/2032867435704103006 a story about a man who treated his dog’s cancer, claiming it was cured with a personalized vaccine developed with assistance from ChatGPT. ChatGPT didn’t actually make the drug or cure the dog https://decrypt.co/361303/chatgpt-cure-dogs-cancer-complicated , but it was able to help the dog’s owner find the right people, machines, and techniques to treat his pet and extend its life. And when Anthropic’s Dario Amodei talks about curing cancer https://darioamodei.com/essay/machines-of-loving-grace , he’s relying on recursive self-improvement: a model that trains a better model until you have something so capable it solves everything. When I talked with Kelsey about all this, I was surprised to find that for all her optimism pessimism? about AI’s transformational impact, she was skeptical about its application in cancer research. Her bottom-line argument is that while LLMs are good at verifiable tasks, the goal of “curing cancer” is full of unverifiable ones. So, we decided to debate it live at our first event in San Francisco, where a crowd full of experts could help us figure it out. Listen to us — and them — discuss. Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts. The Argument. Libbing out. Illustration by The Argument , photo by Mariah Miranda Photography The transcript will be after the paywall in this post for paying subscribers. New episodes post every Thursday. For an ad-free version and full transcript, subscribe at TheArgumentMag.com http://theargumentmag.com . Subscribe: Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-argument/id1842716928 | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/767fBooApaPMOKW6fYCYCb | YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TheArgumentMag | Overcast https://overcast.fm/p5366921-dKmkjb | Pocket Casts https://pca.st/akwiopya Corrections: Around 13:00, Kelsey says “something like 25% of adults are up on all of their recommended cancer screenings.” This is inverted; researchers found https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10625435/ that in 2021, around 25% of adults were not up to date with breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening recommendations, according to the 2021 National Health Interview Survey.Around 22:00, Jerusalem says the survival rate for breast cancer that has metastasized is around 38%. The figure is closer to 31% to 33% https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-stage-4/ .Around 48:00, Jerusalem says X “stopped letting” users create deepfakes and other nonconsensual images through Grok. But an NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/musks-ai-chatbot-grok-xai-making-sexual-deepfakes-imagine-rcna265855 investigation https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/musks-ai-chatbot-grok-xai-making-sexual-deepfakes-imagine-rcna265855 revealed it is still happening, despite the company’s pledge to stop. Show notes: AI boosters discussing the promise of AI in cancer treatment: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum promising that “curing cancer” would be among the “wonderful things that can come from AI”: The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/5586354-us-must-win-ai-arms-race-warns-interior-secretary-doug-burgum/ article https://thehill.com/homenews/5586354-us-must-win-ai-arms-race-warns-interior-secretary-doug-burgum/ Burgum promising AI will “not only gonna cure cancer, but it’s gonna eliminate all kinds of drudgery, repetitive jobs”: Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com/software-mogul-secretary-of-checks-notes-the-interior-says-ai-will-cure-cancer-2000698612 article https://gizmodo.com/software-mogul-secretary-of-checks-notes-the-interior-says-ai-will-cure-cancer-2000698612 Energy Secretary Chris Wright promising that AI could help turn “most cancers, many of which today are ultimate death sentences, into manageable conditions”: Fortune https://fortune.com/2025/10/28/ai-cure-cancer-lux-discovery-supercomputers-amd-energy-department-chris-wright/ article https://fortune.com/2025/10/28/ai-cure-cancer-lux-discovery-supercomputers-amd-energy-department-chris-wright/ Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, saying AI can be used to “cure all disease,” including cancer: 60 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XF-NG 35NE broadcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XF-NG 35NE Greg Brockman boosting story about man who used ChatGPT to help create a personalized vaccine to treat his dog’s cancer: Tweet https://x.com/gdb/status/2032867435704103006 , The Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/tech-boss-uses-ai-and-chatgpt-to-create-cancer-vaccine-for-his-dying-dog/news-story/292a21bcbe93efa17810bfcfcdfadbf7?amp article https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/tech-boss-uses-ai-and-chatgpt-to-create-cancer-vaccine-for-his-dying-dog/news-story/292a21bcbe93efa17810bfcfcdfadbf7?amp , Decrypt https://decrypt.co/361303/chatgpt-cure-dogs-cancer-complicated article https://decrypt.co/361303/chatgpt-cure-dogs-cancer-complicated “Machines of Loving Grace,” document by Dario Amodei describing using recursive self-improvement to solve various long-term problems, including curing cancer: Dario Amodei essay https://darioamodei.com/essay/machines-of-loving-grace Coverage of AI data centers among other things driving up electricity costs: Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-ai-data-centers-electricity-prices/ article https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-ai-data-centers-electricity-prices/ Coverage of AI enabling students to cheat: Education Week https://www.edweek.org/technology/new-data-reveal-how-many-students-are-using-ai-to-cheat/2024/04 article https://www.edweek.org/technology/new-data-reveal-how-many-students-are-using-ai-to-cheat/2024/04 , The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/15/thousands-of-uk-university-students-caught-cheating-using-ai-artificial-intelligence-survey article https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/15/thousands-of-uk-university-students-caught-cheating-using-ai-artificial-intelligence-survey , UC Berkeley study https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/05/21/the-largest-study-of-ai-use-by-undergrads-is-in-revealing-disparities-in-access-and-in-cheating/ Example tweet contrasting AI promises of curing cancer with observed use-cases of sexualizing women: Tweet https://x.com/ItakGol/status/2022650209520750642 Coverage of Grok making sexualized images of real people at users’ request: The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/technology/grok-x-ai-elon-musk-deepfakes.html article https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/technology/grok-x-ai-elon-musk-deepfakes.html , The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/05/elon-musk-grok-ai-digitally-undress-images-of-women-children article https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/05/elon-musk-grok-ai-digitally-undress-images-of-women-children Coverage of oddly common AI-generated dramas featuring animated fruits on TikTok and Instagram Reels: The Conversation https://theconversation.com/unethical-brain-rot-why-are-millions-watching-ai-fruits-have-affairs-on-tiktok-279569 article https://theconversation.com/unethical-brain-rot-why-are-millions-watching-ai-fruits-have-affairs-on-tiktok-279569 2022 study claiming to show that around half of AI researchers believe AI has at least a 10% chance of causing human extinction: AI Impacts https://aiimpacts.org/2022-expert-survey-on-progress-in-ai/ survey https://aiimpacts.org/2022-expert-survey-on-progress-in-ai/ Article criticizing the AI Impacts survey for having a low response rate and lack of peer review: AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans https://aiguide.substack.com/p/do-half-of-ai-researchers-believe article https://aiguide.substack.com/p/do-half-of-ai-researchers-believe Coverage contrasting cancer treatments today to the effective death sentence the disease represented 50 years ago: NIH Medline Plus https://magazine.medlineplus.gov/article/the-legacy-of-the-national-cancer-act-50-years-later article https://magazine.medlineplus.gov/article/the-legacy-of-the-national-cancer-act-50-years-later , Cancer Research UK article https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/12/25/the-enemy-within-50-years-of-fighting-cancer/ , AARP article https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/cancer-progress/ Explanation of “statistical cures,” or cancer epidemiologists considering cancer “cured” if, after five years, people who had it are statistically indistinguishable from the population: BMC Medical Research Methodology https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7098130/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7098130/ Study showing 25% of adults are not up to date with breast, cervical, and CRC screening recommendations in 2021: Preventing Chronic Disease https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10625435/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10625435/ Policy options to increase the number of preventative screenings performed: Organized screening programs: Cancer https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.20505 article https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.20505 , Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1521691823000306? cf chl tk=IGp0GUXdgw0KKGSbtJE7M.QKjzuLkmDtOMwQCMrNZxc-1780516593-1.0.1.1-H1CRvY3EZMwDuku9Lg.SGcoWN26v5XMnfZHwyJvnOng article https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1521691823000306? cf chl tk=IGp0GUXdgw0KKGSbtJE7M.QKjzuLkmDtOMwQCMrNZxc-1780516593-1.0.1.1-H1CRvY3EZMwDuku9Lg.SGcoWN26v5XMnfZHwyJvnOng Invitation letters and reminders: BMC Public Health article https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1471-2458-13-464 Patient navigation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2347562525000940 article https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2347562525000940 Financial incentives: JAMA Network Open https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6789432/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6789432/ Coverage of cancer treatments gaining accelerated approval at higher rates than other specialties: The Lancet Oncology https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045 24 00596-5/fulltext article https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045 24 00596-5/fulltext Coverage of Firefox making several security-related changes after being informed of vulnerabilities by Claude Mythos: Mozilla blog article https://blog.mozilla.org/en/privacy-security/ai-security-zero-day-vulnerabilities/ , TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/how-anthropics-mythos-has-rewritten-firefoxs-approach-to-cybersecurity/ article https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/how-anthropics-mythos-has-rewritten-firefoxs-approach-to-cybersecurity/ Coverage of Novo Nordisk using Claude to create a platform to help cut down on the paperwork necessary for clinical trials: Anthropic customer story https://claude.com/customers/novo-nordisk , The Wall Street Journal https://partners.wsj.com/mongodb/data-without-limits/reshaping-pharmaceutical-development-with-generative-ai/ article https://partners.wsj.com/mongodb/data-without-limits/reshaping-pharmaceutical-development-with-generative-ai/ Coverage comparing breast cancer’s 99% survival rate if it’s caught before it’s metastasized, versus 31% to 33% if it reaches stage 4: National Breast Cancer Foundation overview https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-stage-4/ , National Cancer Institute NCI page https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/survival Coverage of AI analyzing screenings better than human doctors: Mammograms: Breastcancer.org article https://www.breastcancer.org/screening-testing/artificial-intelligence , Diagnostics https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12191860/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12191860/ Lung cancer: Healthcare https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12250385/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12250385/ , Northwestern Medicine article https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2019/05/20/artificial-intelligence-system-spots-lung-cancer-before-radiologists/ Cervical cancer: NCI release https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/deep-learning-cervical-cancer-screening Coverage showing most cancer-associated genes present in a large portion of the population have already been discovered: Nature Reviews Cancer https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2665285/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2665285/ Research showing that around 85% of proteins are not druggable: Pharmacology & Therapeutics https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0163725817300414?via%3Dihub article https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0163725817300414?via%3Dihub , Cancer Research UK article https://cancertools.org/undruggable-targets-in-cancer-research/ Coverage of data becoming more valuable as we’ve discovered more AI-related use cases: Forbes https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/06/03/the-massive-implications-of-data-becoming-a-commodity/ article https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/06/03/the-massive-implications-of-data-becoming-a-commodity/ Coverage showing around 40% of research labs’ work is spent on operations, not science: Research Management Review https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2887040/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2887040/ , AAAS blog https://www.aaas.org/membership/capitol-connection/report-recommends-14-ways-reduce-administrative-burden Coverage of C-Myc and p53, two proteins researchers have been unsuccessfully trying to drug for decades: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9549847/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9549847/ , Creative Diagnostics https://www.creative-diagnostics.com/blog/index.php/the-mystery-p53-cannot-be-a-drug-target/ article https://www.creative-diagnostics.com/blog/index.php/the-mystery-p53-cannot-be-a-drug-target/ , International Journal of Biological Sciences https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10539706/ article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10539706/ , Cancer Research UK article https://cancertools.org/undruggable-targets-in-cancer-research/ Coverage of hepatitis C having a 95% cure rate if patients take direct-acting antivirals: CDC page https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-c/hcp/clinical-care/index.html , Antiviral Research https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166354226000197?via%3Dihub article https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166354226000197?via%3Dihub Coverage of two-thirds of hepatitis C patients not getting proper treatment: CDC page https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hepc-treatment/index.html , Gastroenterology Advisor https://www.gastroenterologyadvisor.com/news/one-third-of-us-adults-with-hepatitis-c-virus-are-treated/ article https://www.gastroenterologyadvisor.com/news/one-third-of-us-adults-with-hepatitis-c-virus-are-treated/ , Hep https://www.hepmag.com/article/many-people-benefit-hepatitis-c-treatment-still-get article https://www.hepmag.com/article/many-people-benefit-hepatitis-c-treatment-still-get Coverage of Medicaid cuts happening next year: The Commonwealth Fund article https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2025/states-responses-hr-1-cuts-medicaid-funding X statement promising to crack down on Grok creating nonconsensual sexualized images of real women: Statement https://x.com/Safety/status/2011573102485127562 Coverage showing Grok deepfakes are still happening: NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/musks-ai-chatbot-grok-xai-making-sexual-deepfakes-imagine-rcna265855 article https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/musks-ai-chatbot-grok-xai-making-sexual-deepfakes-imagine-rcna265855 “Are you there Grok? It’s me, Margaret,” article by Jerusalem Demsas about the potential for AI to serve as a centralizing technology, restoring some shared truth between fractured communities: The Argument https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/are-you-there-grok-its-me-margaret article https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/are-you-there-grok-its-me-margaret “@Grok Is This True? LLM-Powered Fact-Checking on Social Media,” study showing Grok has proved valuable to spreading real facts on Twitter: Study https://sciety.org/articles/activity/10.31234/osf.io/85quw v2 “Do AIs think differently in different languages?” article by Kelsey Piper discovering whether AIs would provide different responses if asked in languages other than English: The Argument https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/do-ais-think-differently-in-different article https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/do-ais-think-differently-in-different Polls showing a plurality of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI: Pew Research Center article https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/12/key-findings-about-how-americans-view-artificial-intelligence/ Coverage of OpenAI Foundation investing in Alzheimer’s disease research: OpenAI Foundation article https://openaifoundation.org/news/ai-for-alzheimers , TODAY https://www.today.com/video/sam-altman-talks-alzheimer-s-research-ai-backlash-more-262171205937 interview https://www.today.com/video/sam-altman-talks-alzheimer-s-research-ai-backlash-more-262171205937 Coverage of MASAI trial that found the use of AI detection software contributed to a 12% reduction in interval cancers: ScreenPoint Insights https://screenpoint-medical.com/insights/final-results-masai-trial article https://screenpoint-medical.com/insights/final-results-masai-trial Transcript: Keep reading with a 7-day free trial Subscribe to The Argument to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.