I wonder if this stuff will ever be applicable to a person and a laptop (or if it is now?).

Ie this seems like such a cool area to be in but the data volumes required are huge, complex, etc. Code is simple, cheap, lean, etc by comparison.

Do we have any insight on how this area of research could be usable with less hardware and data? Is there a visible future where a guy and a laptop can make a big program? (without depending on tech getting small/cheap in 50 years or w/e)