Artificial Intelligence

Is Artificial Intelligence the Right Term for AI?

I remember sitting at home in 2021 and stumbling across a TikTok talking about the generative AI ChatGPT. My first reaction was to look away—a common reaction when dealing with uncomfortable subjects. It was hard to grasp the idea that technology had reached the point where human behavior was being mimicked and that we could actually interact with it.

I, like so many, feared a future of technological overlords, where humans became obsolete. It’s easy to assume the worst when faced with something as complex as AI. After all, AI is no longer some dystopian sci-fi concept—it’s the here and the now; AI may be one of the most important issues of the century.

When my initial disdain and recoil subsided, the feeling of fear was replaced by a burgeoning sense of curiosity.

What exactly is this thing that has the potential to disrupt so many aspects of life as we know it? Is AI something to fear? Is it infallible? Is it biased, like humans? Isn’t intelligence only a human quality?

As I started interacting with AI and getting a firsthand account of its potential, I realized that while a technological revolution may be upon us, its impact is not yet as exaggerated as our nightmares might imply.

Over the past several years, through my own experiences engaging with ChatGPT and other chatbots, I’ve gathered a few takeaways—both as a user and someone trained in anthropology, the study of humans.

For one, AI is not infallible. It isn’t an all-knowing entity; it’s a system of programmed code that generates responses based on the data it has been trained on.

It may process and generate information faster than the human mind, but it still lacks the ability to grasp the nuance of human experience. It isn’t able to feel the warmth of a long shower, the exhaustion after a busy day, the tension of watching a scary movie, the smell of flowers in springtime. AI can mimic the experience, but it doesn’t feel it.

But this does raise a bigger question: What is intelligence anyway?

We usually think of it as the defining factor of what makes humans human: self-awareness, abstract thought, language, and consciousness. But what about other forms of intelligence—ones that don’t fit our human mold?

If octopuses can solve puzzles, trees can communicate through vast underground networks, and AI can detect patterns beyond human perception, then perhaps intelligence isn’t just a human trait. Maybe we've been asking the wrong question all along.

If intelligence takes many forms, is artificial intelligence even the right term?

Written by Joseph Markman — exploring the human side of technology.

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