Czy maszyny myślą? O definiowaniu intelektu i inteligencji w dobie rewolucji cyfrowej

Digital technology has come to strongly dominate our lives in the last decade. Technological progress has made it almost impossible for us to do our work and be creative without the help of computer technology. The relationship between the real world and the virtual one has undergone radical change. We can no longer imagine our everyday lives without access to the Internet and various digital innovations. In developing societies there is a widespread belief that technology will solve the most pressing problems by making our world a safer and more comfortable place. However, many of the questions and problems associated with the digital world relate to the dynamic development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and its impact on us and our communities. These issues have become the subject of research conducted by a wide range of specialists: from mathematicians, computer scientists and physicists to sociologists, political scientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists. This is due to the fact that AI is becoming an increasingly controversial issue, raising serious social, political, economic and pedagogical questions. It will not be long before AI is able to satisfy the vast majority of our needs, be they either technical and practical or recreational, cultural, or even psychological. Expectations of trustworthiness, understanding of our desires, reliable behaviour or adherence to ethical norms are already becoming elements of our relationship with AI and are being written into official documents that define strategies for implementing intelligent systems in the public sector. In this paper I am going to answer questions about the nature of AI and, in particular, about what we call intelligence or machine thinking. When we use the English term intelligence to describe mathematical algorithms, are we correctly defining the nature of what machines do? How and in what way does the claimed intelligence of artificial human creations differ from the natural intelligence of a human person? I believe that describing and understanding this fundamental difference can help us to implement wholesome technological projects – ones in which the intellectual and volitional potential of human beings is enriched rather than deformed by the irresponsible use of artificial intelligence systems.