Rethinking Intelligence in the Age of AI

On an hour-long drive a couple of evenings ago, my son asked my daughter to put herself in a hypothetical situation and answer a question he had in mind. While the question itself is not so important, the conversation veered towards the ability of humans to put themselves into imaginary and hypothetical situations (my daughter’s inability to do so in this case :)), evaluate the situation, and then react to it. Then the conversation shifted to asking LLMs about this, and we had a great time with the answers we got from the available tools.

Delving deeper into this, it dawned on me that humans are very comfortable with imagination, creativity, and addressing such questions with logic and reasoning while adhering to the laws of physics and common sense. I wondered if this is an aspect of intelligence that LLMs are good at. I spent the weekend trying to clear my head about what makes us intelligent and if the term "Artificial Intelligence" is perhaps (not so) apt. I began to wonder why AI is considered intelligent, even though it operates so differently from human intelligence.

Here are some notes that I collected:

1. Computing vs. Thought: Human thought involves comprehending the significance of symbols and concepts far beyond mere rule-based manipulation. In contrast, current AI is just computing, which is about manipulating symbols according to predefined guidelines.
2. Theory of Mind: This is the ability to understand and empathize with others, to grasp their feelings and mental states. It allows us to predict how someone will behave in a given situation. Our current form of AI lacks this deep emotional understanding.
3. Reasoning and Problem-Solving: Humans can reason, debate, and correlate ideas with emotion and logic. We adapt to novel situations using prior knowledge, emotional connections, and experiences. AI, while capable of processing vast amounts of data, lacks this nuanced reasoning.
4. Sentience and Embodiment: Sentience is the capacity to feel sensations and emotions, believed to be linked to having a physical body. Humans experience pain, pleasure, anger, and a wide range of emotions. Without a physical body, can another form achieve sentience?
5. Self-Awareness: This is the ability to differentiate one’s existence from the external world, having a sense of control and a self shaped by past experiences and memories. No matter how advanced AI has been so far, it does not possess this self-awareness.

My daughter, studying medicine, often emphasizes the importance of empathy and understanding in patient care. She notes that while AI can assist doctors by processing medical data and providing diagonsis, it cannot replace the compassionate care and psychological understanding that a doctor can provide. This human touch is crucial in building trust and effectively treating patients.

On the other hand, my son, wanting to pursue economics, sees AI as a powerful tool that can drive innovation and efficiency in business. He acknowledges AI's potential to analyze market trends, optimize operations, and even predict customer needs. However, he points out that such usage of AI is only a spec of what we as humans can solve through creativity, intuition, and the ability to connect with people—qualities that AI lacks.

In conclusion, while artificial intelligence can augment human capabilities, it falls short of replicating the depth and breadth of our intelligence. The nuances of human thought, emotion, and self-awareness remain beyond AI's grasp. My daughter’s insights and my son’s perspective both underscore that AI, despite its remarkable advancements, still cannot fathom the true essence of “intelligence,” let alone replicate it. This profound difference reminded me that human creativity, empathy, and intuition are irreplaceable and that our unique capacity for imagination and understanding will always set us apart from machines.