(NewsNation) — Once the domain of science fiction, artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly common, and the AI Expo demonstrates that there are even more developments on the way.

Artificial intelligence has already taken over thousands of jobs, permeating everyday life as we know it. But there are many companies ready to deploy AI to cut even more costs.

Take, for example, a synthetic human. It’s a computer-generated avatar that’s part of an infinite army, and you may soon be seeing more of them, perhaps the next time you go through a drive-thru.

According to SapientX CEO David Collen, “78% of the restaurants right now say they have staffing shortages, so we’re trying to help them out. It is an infinite army, and these characters can look like anyone you want them to look like. We can give people multiple choices of characters and they can sound like anyone.”

Another development in our near future is improved haptics that facilitate human interaction with metahumans. The use of ultrasound in the metaverse can simulate physical human sensation, opening up a world of future possibilities.

As for those in typical offices, those who work in IT need to incorporate predictive AI or get ready to move aside. The use of AI can instantly negate weeks or months of systems testing done by actual humans, according to Jacob Wilson, an IT solutions engineer with Wyebot.

“The sensor with its AI technology is going to be able to determine those issues within minutes,” he said.

Predictions suggest that 45 million Americans — one-quarter of the total workforce — will lose their jobs to automation by 2030. The latest efforts to replace workers are already on the way.

Tesla just disclosed that its robot army is growing fast, walking around and undergoing AI training with human demonstrations.

As lawmakers scramble to catch up with possible regulation after hearing testimony on the dangers of AI this week, the industry is already hard at work to prevent human catastrophe.

Eric Gerlac, Internet of Things expert, said Congress may be too late to the game.

“Not only is the cow out of the barn, it left three years ago,” Gerlac said. “That’s really what … the technology community is having to do, is take a step back and go, OK, how do we make this ubiquitous, available for everybody, but also safe in the world in general.”

When asked directly whether AI will destroy humanity, experts say machines don’t possess inherent intentions or motivations. But the future impact will be determined by how it’s developed, deployed and governed.