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An AI-powered longevity app called Death Clock predicts user life expectancy based on medical habits and lifestyle, prompting users with countdowns and personalized health prevention plans. WIRED tested the app by answering health questionnaires and submitting blood samples to explore the booming multi-trillion-dollar life extension industry.
The AI Countdown and Blood Biomarkers
Launched in 2024, Death Clock added a feature allowing users to order biomarker panels. WIRED opted for a basic $69 blood panel measuring cholesterol, blood sugars, inflammation, vitamin D, and organ health, alongside a $29 stress test. The app trains its AI on 1,200 longevity studies, life insurance actuarial data, and life expectancy tables.
After completing an initial health questionnaire, the app informed WIRED that cardiovascular disease, a sleep disorder, or cancer were the three likely causes of death, calculating a life span ending at age 74. When a family history of mild diabetes was added, the estimated age dropped to 73. WIRED then visited Quest Diagnostics, one of the app’s partner labs, to provide blood samples for the personalized prevention plan.
The Booming Longevity Industry and Skepticism
Death Clock CEO Brent Franson tells WIRED that advocates promising immortality are in a dangerous place, noting that everyone will eventually die. The longevity market is projected to reach $8 trillion by 2030, driven by services like Doctronic, Superpower, Lifeforce, and Twin Health. However, UC Santa Barbara statistics professor Mike Ludkovski tells WIRED that mortality awareness platforms sell an illusion because individual lifespan is not a linear process and individual triggers of death are inherently random.
Franson acknowledges to WIRED that the app contributes to an unhealthy obsession with self-optimization and tracking. Gretchen Terry-Leonard, cofounder of the Center for Deeply Human Leadership, tells WIRED that measuring something does not mean it can be managed, and that consumer longevity apps may not prompt positive behavioral shifts. Terry-Leonard notes that aging apps featuring death countdowns can quietly teach users that aging is a loss, which can hinder longevity rather than promote it.
The Psychological Toll of Tracking Time
Using the app for a month caused WIRED to meticulously log daily habits, trading off years gained and lost based on strength training, alcohol consumption, dental hygiene, sleep, sauna use, and water intake. Rather than assuaging anxieties, the constant countdown made time feel like a heavy burden that required optimization.
Realizing that life is about making time count rather than merely adding more years, WIRED silenced the app’s notifications and arranged to meet a friend. Readers wishing to share their thoughts on the article can submit a letter to the editor at mailvired.com.
