I’m Skeptical of AI hype — but what happened at Davos Actually Scared Me.
When Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI all predict the same timeline, it’s time to pay attention.
Three weeks ago, Elon Musk posted two messages on X that broke the internet.
The first: “We have entered the singularity.”
A few hours later, he doubled down: “2026 is the year of the singularity.”
The timing is fascinating because these declarations came right after xAI, his artificial intelligence company, closed a $20 billion funding round. And if you connect this to what happened last week at Davos, you’ll understand why this claim deserves serious attention, even if you’re skeptical.
Because Elon Musk isn’t the only AI CEO talking about the singularity anymore.
I intended this article to deviate from my standard content. I will offer you tangible signs that will confirm our approach to this landmark moment.
What the Singularity Actually Means
The singularity isn’t Terminator. But it’s not Silicon Valley marketing either.
It’s a precise concept that mathematician and science fiction author Vernor Vinge formalized in 1993 in a paper titled “The Coming Technological Singularity.” His idea was simple: when superhuman intelligence is created, the era of human dominance will end. He compared this moment to the event horizon of a black hole, that boundary beyond which you literally can no longer see what’s happening.
Then, Ray Kurzweil popularized the concept in 2005 with his book “The Singularity Is Near.” His definition is more technical. For him, it’s the moment when artificial intelligence can improve itself, then that improved version improves itself again, and progress accelerates so fast that human life is irreversibly transformed.
Kurzweil predicted it would happen around 2045. Elon Musk says it’s now.
What’s interesting is that the singularity isn’t just about the level of intelligence. It’s about the speed of improvement. When AI progresses faster than we can understand it, we’re in the singularity.
Why Is Musk Making This Claim Now?
The answer partly lies in what’s happening at xAI, his AI company.
On January 6th, the company announced it had raised $20 billion, far exceeding the initial $15 billion target. NVIDIA, Cisco, Fidelity, Qatar’s Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund — all these financial giants are putting colossal sums behind Musk’s ambitions.
xAI’s valuation hovers around $230 billion, placing it at the same level as OpenAI and Anthropic.
