Will the development of artificial intelligence lead to the decline of human intelligence, or will it allow human intelligence to reach new heights? David W. Bates, professor of rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, believes that it is the wrong question to ask. Th expert in cybernetics, who published An Artificial History of Natural Intelligence. Thinking with Machines from Descartes to the Digital Age (2024), spoke with Le Monde about the true nature of the relationship between the human mind and technology.
The question of the consequences of artificial intelligence for the future of human intelligence is central to contemporary debates. In your view, is the comparison between the two, reinforced by the term “artificial intelligence,” justified?
The term “artificial intelligence” [to refer to computer systems capable of performing tasks we usually associate with humans, such as learning, reasoning and, above all, prediction] is older. It goes back to the 1950s. Human intelligence has often been compared to what we would call artificial intelligence. Instead of artificial intelligence just simulating the human, what we have now is human intelligence being conceptualized in relationship to computers. The brain becomes a computer, the computer is a brain, there’s a kind of mutual metaphor that takes place between the two.
Could this lead to a philosophical crisis?
I think the crisis is one where humans are becoming more automated in their own thinking due to digital infrastructures. But also because we’re understanding ourselves as giant computers. There’s a loss of human agency here. It’s creeping into not only the way that we run our lives, but also the way that humans begin to think of themselves: As if we’re just inferior to prediction machines. This contributes to the idea that general intelligence will come and enable us to take over the tasks we perform.
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