AI Is Human Intelligence Applied

My first experience with so-called AI was in the late 90s playing a PS1 game called Twisted Metal. I could play competitively against my friends, but somehow I could even play when there was no one else around. The game itself could be my opponent. This felt like magic to me. How could a computer understand how to play the game so well. At times, it even felt like it was strategizing and anticipating my moves.

Fast forward to today, and we know that this was not some advanced intelligence. It didn’t understand deep, complex strategies or have any real understanding of the game. It was simply programmed to follow a set of rules and respond to player actions in a way that felt competitive. And who was it that programmed those rules? A human, of course. The AI was just a reflection of human intelligence applied to the game mechanics.

Today, we would be laughed at if we called that AI. But the same principle applies to modern AI systems. They are not super-intelligent beings. They are tools created by humans, designed to apply human intelligence to specific tasks. If they seem human, then that is no accident. Of course they seem human. They are designed by humans to mimic humans.

Stop Giving AI Too Much Credit

Fred Hebert makes the insightful observation that “We Oversell Machines by Erasing Ourselves”. So often, we use AI and it feels magical, and yet we forget the immense amount of human intelligence and work that duct taped it all together. We forget that the AI is not some independent entity; it is a product of human ingenuity, creativity, and effort.

When we talk about AI, we should remember that it is not a replacement for human intelligence. It is an application of it. It is a tool that extends our capabilities, not a substitute for our own thinking and understanding.

Remember the Value of Humanity

We should celebrate the incredible advancements in AI technology, but we must also recognize the human intelligence that makes it all possible. The next time you marvel at an AI’s capabilities, take a moment to appreciate the human minds behind it. Remember the innumerable generations of human thought, creativity, and problem-solving that are encapsulated in that AI’s training data. To the AI, human history is a pile of weights and biases, but to us, it is a rich tapestry of culture, knowledge, and experience. It’s not ones and zeros; it’s Shakespeare and Van Gogh.

And remember the value of yourself. You are not replaceable. Not by a machine, a person or anything else. Don’t sell yourself short.