Stephen Hawking's last prediction: Humanity will be wiped out in 100 years unless it colonises the universe first

Hoarding tinned food in the basement won't save you

Humans have just 100 years to colonise the galaxies and leave Earth before it comes to a dramatic end, according to the late Stephen Hawking.

The world-renowned physicist had initially predicted that Earth would be hit by a catastrophic doomsday event within 1,000 years, such as a major asteroid strike, but before he died on 14th March he drastically altered his opinion.

In order to survive, Hawking believes that humans need to speed-up the current pace of innovation and find new planets that can sustain human life. Otherwise, the human species faces being wiped out altogether.

Scientists have just another century to do this, Hawking believed.

During his career, Hawking made a range of striking doomsday predictions. More recently, he has warned about the rise of 'killer' artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

Speaking last year, he acknowledged the fact that companies and researchers across the world have made great strides in developing AI technologies.

However, at the time, he was not sure if AI would be truly beneficial. He said: "Success in creating effective AI, could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization.

"Or the worst. We just don't know. So we cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and side-lined, or conceivably destroyed by it," Hawking said during the speech.

He urged humanity to bot "prepare for" and "avoid" the challenges that AI could throw up, predicating that it could become the "worst event in the history of our civilization".

Hawking added: "It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy."

In November 2017, Hawking predicted that humans would be wiped out within 1,000 years. But more recently, he changed this to 100 years as a result of global warming, over-population, and pandemics, as well as asteroid strikes.

Hawking's most recent doomsday warning is to be detailed in a new BBC documentary called Expedition New Earth, which will air on June 15th.