It can be said with confidence that no other machine in human history has inspired as much fear and hope as artificial intelligence.

AI has long been with us. For example, it recognizes our faces (though sometimes, before the morning coffee, it doesn’t) and unlocks our phones. Yet these quiet, hidden models of everyday life never drew much public attention. Large Language Models (LLMs), however, are a completely different story.

They once again prove that our anthropocentric understanding of intelligence is deeply rooted in language. Thinking and speaking seem inseparable to us — and so machines that can speak fluently are automatically perceived as “intelligent,” even though the spatial intelligence and cognitive model of the physical world that animals possess still far surpass modern AI.

Talking models — or Large Language Models — have upended our sense of the boundaries of machine capability, bringing them alarmingly close to, or perhaps even beyond, the human. It’s emotional, even unsettling. After all, this touches the very foundation of human identity — the ancient impulse to create something that might one day surpass us. It feels at once like victory and defeat.

Some say these models will change the world — that a revolution greater than the Industrial one is coming. That AI will solve humanity’s most painful problems: poverty, disease, and education, and will also expand the horizons of knowledge.

So when I am thinking about AI and the future awaits us, I am looking for something that gives optimism and hope. And often find myself reflecting on how it can deepen our sense of humanity. Here are some thoughts that inspire me to choose openness and curiosity over fear.

Read the full essay on Medium: https://medium.com/@ruta.binkyte/what-is-special-about-humans-in-the-age-of-ai-bc1e675a48f9 

#Artificial Intelligence, #Humanity, #Technology, #Philosophy, #FutureofWork, #Creativity, #Art