For today's post, after a little hiatus, I am going to return to the subject of AI and the core of today's topic is to try to figure out whether human intelligence or AI is "better". Better is of course a non-specific and subjective term and it depends entirely on what is being measured and using such a word is actually a bit nonsensical, but the best I have to work with.

Before we move on to answer the question it is important to identify the differences. Human Intelligence is biological, intuitive, experiential, emotional, and contextual and has evolved over millions of years whereas AI, human-engineered using algorithms is data-driven and requires structured input. AI is completely incapable of any original creativity and the best it can do is mimic using patterns and drawing on other sources (remember my recent discussion about the AI Tiger in another post). Obviously in contrast the human imagination is highly creative, abstractive and capable of humor.

I wonder what would happen if you ask ChatGPT to tell a joke!

Humans are highly adaptable and some anthropologists call humanity the end of evolution (maybe AI challenges that) because we are the only species that fundamentally adapt our environment to ourselves rather than vice-versa. This means that while it may present its own challenges we are adept at handling new, ambiguous, or emotional situations, which is contrary to AI which excels in structured, rule-based environments.

The key advantage that AI has is of course speed because we are limited by biology which naturally means slower processing that is often (defective at times) memory based, AI just takes this stuff in its stride as it is more than capable of processing vast amounts of data in milliseconds. Going back to may recent discussion about augmentation this could really be place where a new synergy could be created. If the human brain could be augmented with technology so it creates a hybrid brain CPU that masters the advantages of both (or more frightening what if a processor is augmented with the advantages of human thinking).

While it can be said that some humans lack emotional intelligence it is generally one of the strengths of our humanity. It enables empathy, morality, intuition, and social awareness and the best AI can do is simulate but without any true emotional understanding. Just as a note on Emotional Intelligence, the whole point of our emotions is to act as a sensory guide, they are not particularly reliable and provide an element of a wider framework for us to understand the world around us and the situations we find ourselves in. AI. lacking emotion or other human factors is consistent and still operates on the basis of GIGO (even if its sources are more far-flung nowadays thanks to its connectivity to the internet), whereas we  are prone to fatigue, bias, and emotional variability, but this also makes AI non-intuitive and dependent on human-defined rules with no sense of Ethics whereas we are able to weigh the moral consequences and long-term impacts of our decision making. AI still has to be programmed.

Think about the dilemma of the self-driving car. If it cannot avoid a collision and will either hit an 8 year old or an 80 year old AI will run an algorthim and a human driver will do its utmost to avoid both (and will probably fail). Somehow the human reaction seems more ethical even if it is more devastating in actuality because nobody wants a death to be the consequence of an algorithm.

And finally - and probably most obviously - humans are fully conscious, self-reflective, and aware of our own mortality; something AI is completely incapable of at this time.

So when we consider AI vs. Human Intelligence there is no such thing as "better". If we are looking for speed, scale, and data analysis: AI wins hands down and if we are looking for creativity, empathy, and moral judgment there is no better known species in the universe than humans.It seems then that the real power lies in combining both. AI can augment human decision-making, while humans provide the nuance and ethical compass and that can be a force for either good or bad.

So in the end AI is a powerful tool, but human intelligence is still the architect, the artist, and the conscience behind the machine and as I argued to begin with any sense of better is nonsensical.