Zoho's Sridhar Vembu asks if AI can solve cancer, climate change and war. Is it the only technology that matters? Internet left divided

The debate around artificial intelligence is no longer just about chatbots or coding assistants. It has now reached a bigger question: if AI can eventually solve humanity's toughest problems, should it become the only technology worth investing in? That is the discussion Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu started with a post on X, drawing a wide range of reactions from users.

Sridhar Vembu questions the premise behind the AI investment boom

In his post, Vembu spoke about the massive investments flowing into artificial intelligence and the belief driving them.

He wrote, "The premise behind the extraordinary AI investment wave is this: the only technology that will matter is AI. All other technology will be subsumed by AI because they can all be reinvented and vastly improved by a powerful enough AI."


He then listed several examples to explain the idea.

"For example, AI will help find solutions to climate change. AI will help find medicines to cure cancer. AI will help solve the housing affordability problem in cities. AI will help us end war (okay, may be this one is my hallucination!)"

Vembu followed it up with another question.

"If you accept the fundamental premise and the concrete examples listed above, the only technology worth working on is AI. Do you accept the premise?"

The post quickly attracted replies from entrepreneurs, developers and AI enthusiasts, with many agreeing that AI will transform industries while others argued that the technology still has clear limits.

Internet says AI is an enabler, not the only answer

Several users agreed that AI could become part of almost every field but stopped short of calling it the only technology worth pursuing. One person wrote, "AI is an enabler that helps us develop or improve technologies. It does not replace the other technologies."

Another echoed a similar view, saying, "AI will be an enabler ... but will not be the end-all be-all of problems.... a lot needs to happen for us to figure out how to harness this new 'tool' no doubt .... but should not be the only technology worth working on... it would be a very narrow way of looking at reality."

Jegan Raj also felt AI would play a major role but not replace every area of technology. He commented, "I accept the fact that AI is going to play a major role in every field, but we should not focus only on this. The technology domain is vast, and we should explore other spaces as well."

Others question AI's current capabilities

Some users argued that the excitement around AI is running ahead of reality.

An X user wrote, "No. Weren’t we doing all these without AI? Where does AI add real value and at what Cost? Medicine is one field where I think AI will be useful. It already was. Just that we have more computing power and money flowing in now." Another user was even more direct, commenting, "No, I don't, because it's clearly looking like a bubble."

One person questioned whether AI's current value has been proven, writing, "As of now the value proposition of AI is still not clear. The AI LAB CEOs keep selling dreams and employees in IT orgs are being forced to use AI. People keep getting dumber as they outsource their thinking to something that keeps hallucinating."

Optimists believe AI's role will continue to grow

Not everyone was sceptical. Some users believed AI's influence will only increase over time. One user wrote, "I agree with the premise, as it is about intelligence and the progress we have made so far is because of intelligence and collaboration. It does not mean LLMs will do everything. There will be other breakthroughs. If we collaborate with one another and AI, it can do wonders. Thoughts?"

Another user added, "I’m optimistic that AI can help us end wars. History shows that technology has repeatedly expanded the boundaries of what’s possible, and AI could be the next big leap."