I just discovered a pretty interesting app — Death Clock. It promises to tell you the exact day you will die using AI technology. It sounds crazy, but in fact, it’s built on quite solid data.

This app was created by Brent Franson and has been downloaded over 125,000 times since its launch in July. Behind it is data from more than 1,200 studies on the lifespan of 53 million people. You input information such as diet, exercise habits, sleep, and stress levels. The result? The app calculates your death date — specifically down to the day, even featuring a countdown clock that ticks off every second of your remaining life. The service fee is $40 per year.

But this isn’t just a game. Franson emphasizes that the way it calculates your death date is based on insurance tables that insurance companies and governments have used for centuries. Lifespan isn’t just a personal matter — it’s the foundation of important financial systems. Pension funds, life insurance, and social safety programs all rely on these estimates to determine everything from insurance premiums to pension payouts.

The beauty of AI is that it goes beyond average numbers. For example, the U.S. Social Security Administration can only predict that an 85-year-old man has a 10% chance of dying within the next year. But Death Clock adjusts its predictions based on your unique information. This approach has attracted attention from economists. Recently, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) published two papers on mortality and its economic impact. One article argued that age-based policies, like mandatory retirement, are outdated. People age differently, and their actual health prospects don’t always match their chronological age.

Personalized predictions about how your death date is calculated can help shift focus from age to functional health. This is significant — if you know more precisely when you will die, you can plan your finances smarter. Decisions about saving, investing, and withdrawing retirement funds will be based on more concrete numbers rather than rough estimates.

But there’s a big issue here. Lifespan isn’t just about health; it’s also about money. Wealthy Americans live significantly longer than poor ones — at age 40, the wealthiest live 15 years longer than the poorest. If you don’t have the money to buy healthy food, gym memberships, or stress-reducing vacations, knowing how to calculate your death date doesn’t help much.

There are factors AI can’t quantify. Loneliness reduces lifespan. Gratitude, on the other hand, can extend it — a Harvard study shows women who feel the most grateful have a 9% lower risk of death over three years. These factors are hard to measure but very important.

Anyway, this app is still fun to try out. It shows how AI is changing the way we view fundamental economic and financial issues. If you’re curious about how your death date is calculated or just want to explore new AI technologies, give it a shot.