A Different Mind. How Does Artificial Intelligence 'Think'?

Artificial intelligence is not just a technology, but perhaps the grandest experiment in history we conduct… on ourselves. By creating a machine capable of thinking, for the first time we saw our own mind from the outside. And what has been revealed to us is shocking. It turns out that we do not have a workable model of thinking, nor an understanding of how we use it, and not even the ability to clearly say what we truly think.

And with such, to put it mildly, not-so-glorious preparation, we are trying to grasp a fundamentally different kind of mind. Is it any wonder that some people naively consider it the “new best friend,” while others see in it an “alive Terminator”?

However, it is even more sad if we think of AI as a “program” or a “big calculator.” Yes, we have grown used to taking pride in our intellectual exceptionalism—but that is no longer the case, and it is time to realize it.

• But can we claim that AI truly “thinks”?

• If it really does think, then what is its “inner world” like?

• Will we be able to reach “mutual understanding” with it and think together?

Very soon, AI will determine every aspect of our lives, yet we persistently avoid the question—who, exactly, we are entrusting it to. Is this childish carelessness? Or an archaic, unconscious fear of the Other?