Artificial Intelligence has become ‘Superior Intelligence’, CQU neuroscientist says
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, a CQUniversity neuroscientist says protecting our ability to think critically, empathise and make ethical decisions has never been more important.
CQUniversity neuroscientist and Adjunct Senior Lecturer Dr Ragnar Purje has explored the implications of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in a new Psychology Today article.
Dr Purje said AI had advanced to the point where ‘artificial intelligence’ may no longer adequately describe its capabilities and is proposing that the term be replaced with ‘Superior Intelligence’ (SI).
"Artificial Intelligence is no longer an accurate descriptor for what is taking place,” Dr Purje said.
“What we are seeing now is Superior Intelligence. This is technology that has advanced beyond the early stages of artificial intelligence and is demonstrating capabilities superior to those of humans.”
“We now live in a world where human-invented machine-based superior intelligence is an all-encompassing reality,” Dr Purje said.
The rapid rise of SI also presents an important question for humanity: how do we protect the distinctly human abilities that allow us to make independent, responsible and informed choices?
According to Dr Purje, the development of human consciousness gave people the capacity for self-reflection and free will, while skills and knowledge, critical thinking and higher-order reasoning were developed through sustained individual and collective effort.
He said empathy, ethical behaviour and personal responsibility were also shaped through human development and interaction, with human intelligence ultimately responsible for creating what has now advanced to machine-based Superior Intelligence.
However, he said the way the human brain develops means skills and knowledge require years of learning and human interaction, and he cautioned that increased reliance on machine-based Superior Intelligence could undermine rather than advance those capabilities.
“We most certainly are not in the Age of Reason and Enlightenment,” Dr Purje said.
Dr Purje said education would be central to ensuring people continued to develop the cognitive skills needed to maintain agency and make informed decisions.
He said neuroscience showed there were no shortcuts to the processes through which the human brain develops consciousness, cognition, critical thinking and higher-order reasoning.
“We need to make sure that our education system is operating in a manner that advances critical thinking and higher-order reasoning in accordance with how the human brain functions,” he said.
The issue extends beyond the classroom, with Dr Purje highlighting the important role physical play and face-to-face interaction have in childhood development.
Physical play is known to support both the development of the brain and body, while also helping children develop imagination, empathy, autonomy and the social, moral and ethical capacities they would need as adults.
“Play is the immutable, genetically based, universal developmental process that holistically develops the brain, mind and body for eventual adulthood,” Dr Purje said.
He cautioned that when device use displaced opportunities for physical play and meaningful human interaction, it could affect the conditions that supported healthy neurological and social development.
Looking to history, Dr Purje noted parallels between the choices society now faced over emerging technology and the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The crisis demonstrated the importance of human judgement, empathy, ethics, and the ability to understand others' perspectives and intentions when making decisions with far-reaching consequences.
According to Dr Purje, humanity is again at a crossroads, this time driven by the growing power and influence of Superior Intelligence.
“Human consciousness gives us the intellectual capacity for choice and free will,” he said.
Maintaining the human capacity for critical thinking, ethical reasoning, empathy and responsible decision-making will be essential to navigating that future.
“Choices have consequences. Choose wisely. The mythology surrounding Pandora’s Box endures for a reason,” Dr Purje said.
