The Age of (A)Intelligence
Intelligent machines are all the rage these days. They call it AI; I still call it a very (very) big bowl of linear algebra mixed with a ton of numerical analysis and spiced by some clever computer science in a gargantuan mixer at a mind-boggling speed. Or is it? Have the machines truly become intelligent? To answer this question, we need to answer a few other ones first.
Let’s start with an easy one (joking): what is intelligence? We can all type this into a search engine. It will then come up with a long list of definitions from dictionaries, Wikipedia, and (if we scroll past the first page of search results) a paper of five on arXiv.org.
The thing about intelligence is that we are still determining what it is and who is capable of it besides us humans. We are unsure whether concepts like intelligence or any byproducts of a human mind, like math, physics, and music, would otherwise exist if we, as humankind, didn’t. But that’s another story for another day.
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The whole puzzle is a real pickle because we humans conceived the concept of intelligence itself. We also self-proclaimed ourselves to be the supreme intelligent species. We also have come up with the definitions of it and who is capable of possessing it. We are not in consensus about the specifics, but one thing is for sure — we are reluctant to give up the pedestal to anyone (or anything).
If we, as humans, are putting a label of intelligence on a machine, does that mean that we have voluntarily granted a new being this ability? Has it surpassed us in it? In some cases — it has; in others, it miserably failed.
Will machines ever become the supreme species? They might. And here’s the other big question — can we consider machines a new species? Do we have a clear idea of what is the definition of species? You see how easily we get stumped if we ask ourselves such questions; I often find myself going in loops without a clear breaking point.
The above thoughts are neither new nor unique. Mine were prompted by Dan Brown’s recent novel “Origin.” Which, by the way, according to Wikipedia, was published on October 3, 2017. That is the date before BERT saw the light of day and just a couple of months after a publication of a paper that may have propelled the age of LLMs into the stratosphere (I am sure you have paid attention to it).
I recommend reading the novel to anyone who has an idea about all the latest developments in the field of AI and those who are just trying to get their bearings. It’s fun, thought-provoking, and has already become a reality — mad props on research to a visionary writer. I also enjoy the descriptions of the most incredible places, art pieces, literature, and architectural masterpieces. He is a genuinely multi-talented writer and musician! Yes, he writes music too! My daughter is a fan of his children’s book Wild Symphony and the music track written for it; bonus — it comes with a free app. Ok, this wasn’t supposed to be a free ad for Dan Brown’s work, but I couldn’t help but admire the renaissance nature of one’s mind. It appears that Dan Brown is a multi-modal human.
