Is artificial intelligence really so intelligent that it can be compared to human intelligence? We asked Massimo Chiriatti, a well-known expert in the sector.
Artificial intelligence is one of the undisputed protagonists of the entire technology sector in recent months. Thanks to a notable contribution from us humans, a great debate has been generated around it, not free from fears and concerns for future evolutions and repercussions on the world of work on many professional sectors, not least that of journalism.
Net of technicalities and fields of application in which it has now become a consolidated reality (think of repetitive jobs or the need to process huge amounts of data) one wonders if this technology has really been well focused or if the storytelling generated is not simply underestimating or overestimating it in its main characteristics.
The simple and direct question to ask yourself is whether it is really so intelligent as to compare it to the human one? We asked Massimo Chiriatti, one of the leading Italian technologists and author.
The direct and unequivocal answer that emerged is no. A position, in reality, already very clear from the very title of the text. AI is not only not intelligent because it is difficult to give an unambiguous definition of intelligence but it is also unconscious because it does not know what it is doing. Therefore, it lacks a fundamental aspect that fortunately belongs to mankind: the awareness of making mistakes, of being able and willing to do it and in the best cases of repenting and repenting. Consciousness is “incomputable”.
Machines imitate us and observe our input "in a syntactic and non-semantic way". And then we still have to wonder why a certain type of dangerous and exploitative communication, combined with a generous dose of ignorance, claims that Artificial Intelligence resembles a human being in all respects if what distinguishes us, first of all in the intellect, is our uniqueness and singularity precisely? It seems that scientific progress, especially that of the last 15 years, has cloaked itself in a remarkable narcissism which is most often exasperated by an almost ancestral need to anthropomorphise everything and everyone: this is proof the name given to smart speakers and virtual assistants to whom we ask questions or give orders every day to make our existence easier.
When we ask Siri or Alexa about the situation, we are giving a pre-established impulse to which we will receive, if able to interpret it, the desired output, but we stop here. And so it should be, we don’t create comparison or debate with a sequence of algorithms even if it is extremely structured and rich.
Today’s developer is not a Creator, if anything he should be a contemporary Prometheus without suffering the shame of the punishment that would help us make good use of technology especially in the field of AI.
So why not capitalize on all the clamor that has been unleashed around Artificial Intelligence or ChatGTP to truly awaken human consciences and place us before correct ethical, social and economic choices? Technology is wonderful, thanks to it our life has improved and performs in an excellent way when it is at our service and not the other way around, but a small and fundamental piece is still missing so that we can say we are free from it and free to use it to the fullest: awareness and digital education and here, as Chiriatti says, we must all work together, institutions included, to regulate, educate and not leave the citizen or company alone to decide how to avoid certain risks and fall into the trap that an algorithm can be worth more than us: the best software in the world remains our brain, the most beautiful journey remains the thrill of understanding it.
And if in finding the right use of Artificial Intelligence, we could rediscover the beauty and importance of our Emotional Intelligence, then we could truly say that we are progressing from every point of view
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2023-03-27 16:00:00. Original title: L’intelligenza artificiale è davvero intelligente?
