What AI Can (and Can’t) Do Better Than Humans

AI&Future |

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that can simulate and perform tasks performed by human intelligence. While its intelligence is formidable, it will never surpass humans. The fundamental reason lies in the fundamental differences between humans and machines.

Turing Award winner Richard Sutton pointed out that large language models are "unfocused imitators," mimicking human language solely through statistical matching. For example, they might simultaneously generate the expression "man riding a horse" and "astronaut riding a dinosaur," unable to determine which corresponds to the actual logic of the physical world. They are like "ghosts trapped in a maze of linguistic symbols." Lacking interaction with the real world, they can never truly understand the content, let alone develop human-like causal cognition.

A fundamental difference in learning methods
Humans explore the world through active trial and error, such as babies exploring themselves or squirrels learning to crack nuts. AI, on the other hand, passively imitates, learning from biased language data on the internet. It merely "replicates human expressions" rather than understanding the underlying laws of the world.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has been astonishing, and its applications in many fields have already yielded remarkable results. However, despite its impressive capabilities in many areas, AI still cannot completely replace or surpass human intelligence. Here are some reasons:
  1. Human intelligence is uniquely creative and imaginative.
Although AI can simulate human thought processes, it lacks human emotions, intuition, and inspiration. Human creativity and imagination are important driving forces for social progress and development, and AI is far from comparable in this regard.
  1. Human intelligence is highly adaptable and flexible.
Humans can quickly adapt to new environments, situations, and tasks, while AI requires vast amounts of data and time to learn and train. Furthermore, humans can flexibly apply a wide range of knowledge and skills when faced with complex problems, while AI is often limited by its pre-programmed programs and algorithms.
  1. Human intelligence is social and cultural.
Human intelligence develops in a social and cultural environment and is influenced by various factors, such as language, customs, and beliefs. AI, lacking this social and cultural context, cannot fully understand and emulate human thinking and behavior.
  1. The development of artificial intelligence also faces ethical and moral challenges.
Although AI can surpass humans in many aspects, it lacks human moral awareness and ethical values. When it comes to matters concerning human life, dignity, and privacy, AI's decisions may raise serious ethical and moral issues.

In summary
Although AI has demonstrated powerful capabilities in many areas, it still cannot completely replace or surpass human intelligence. Human intelligence possesses unique strengths such as creativity and imagination, high adaptability and flexibility, sociality and culturality, and moral and ethical awareness, all of which AI cannot currently surpass. Therefore, while we should recognize the potential and value of AI, we must also acknowledge its limitations and challenges, and develop and apply AI technology in a more judicious and responsible manner.

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