Peter Diamandis, the visionary behind the XPRIZE Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University, sat down to share insights into his mission to push humanity forward through innovation. Known for championing moonshot ideas, Peter talked about why he created XPRIZE and how it’s changing the world.

The idea for XPRIZE came from Peter’s deep desire to go to space. Back in the early ’90s, becoming an astronaut was nearly impossible unless you worked for a government agency. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight in 1927, which was driven by a prize, Peter decided to launch a similar competition to encourage private space travel. That decision helped jumpstart the commercial spaceflight industry.

Since then, XPRIZE has expanded far beyond space. It has launched competitions worth over $500 million, including initiatives focused on climate change, education, and healthcare. Some notable examples include a $100 million prize for carbon removal funded by Elon Musk and a $101 million prize focused on extending healthy human lifespan.

Peter believes in using incentives to inspire entrepreneurs to think bigger. He wants people to aim higher than just creating another photo-sharing app. Instead, he encourages them to tackle major global problems like disease, food scarcity, clean water access, and education.

XPRIZE also looks at bold new areas like:

– Technology that measures and boosts happiness
– Earthquake prediction systems
– Tools for spotting and deflecting asteroids
– Communication tools for understanding animals
– Autonomous systems to detect and fight wildfires

One area Peter is especially passionate about is longevity. He asks: What would you do if you had 40 extra years of healthy life? For him, the answer includes watching his children grow, building cities on the Moon, and witnessing breakthroughs in brain-computer interfaces.

Peter is also a long-time supporter of Bitcoin. He first learned about it in 2010 and began investing around 2014. He even gave Bitcoin to CEOs in his Abundance 360 program to help them learn about it hands-on. Peter believes Bitcoin is digital money that solves many problems found in traditional currencies—it’s stable, secure, and decentralized. Today, his crypto holdings are mostly Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Peter sees potential where AI meets blockchain—especially for verifying content. With AI becoming better at generating realistic fakes, blockchain could be key to proving what’s real.

He’s also interested in quantum technologies. Through his venture funds, he has invested in companies using quantum computing for drug discovery and health applications. For example, one of his portfolio companies uses AI and quantum chemistry to create new molecules for medicine.

When asked about artificial intelligence becoming conscious, Peter says it’s likely. He believes we’re heading toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) by 2029, aligning with the prediction of his partner Ray Kurzweil. Technologies like ChatGPT have already made huge leaps, and while they’ve integrated smoothly into our lives, they mark major progress toward true machine intelligence.

Peter uses AI tools from Google, OpenAI, and Stability AI daily. He’s especially excited about applying AI in healthcare—to analyze large health datasets and offer personalized recommendations for medicine, diet, and lifestyle.

In education, Peter envisions AI tutors offering personalized learning experiences tailored to each student’s knowledge, interests, and learning pace. Combined with virtual reality, this could make learning immersive and fun. Eventually, brain-computer interfaces may allow people to instantly access knowledge or communicate ideas just by thinking.

When it comes to fears about AI taking control or making people lazy, Peter remains optimistic. He believes AI will augment human intelligence rather than replace it. Throughout history, new technologies like cars and electricity didn’t make people idle—they enabled them to do more. Similarly, AI will create new opportunities and challenges that push us to grow.

In Peter’s view, the future isn’t about losing control to machines—it’s about using powerful tools to solve humanity’s biggest problems and elevate our potential as a species. Whether through space exploration, advanced health tech, or AI-powered education, the goal is clear: to build a better future for everyone.