A.S. - Artificial Stupidity

Abstract

The recent spectacular advances of the so-called Artificial Intelligence (A.I,) have made many people say that we run the risk of underestimating its capabilities, first of all its capability for being truly intelligent. Yet, that machines are not intelligent is no longer a philosophical thesis with some theoretical implications, but a technological fact with many practical consequences. What made it possible the success of the “new” A.I., indeed, was precisely the decision of abandoning any attempt to reproduce human intelligence, to create instead systems entirely based on statistics, which therefore should more properly be called A.S. (Automatic Statistics). So, the risk we run is that of overestimating their capabilities, which could seriously affect our society. Avoiding this risk depends on our intelligence, and not on the (imaginary) intelligence of the machines.

Keywords

• Artificial Intelligence. Automatic statistics. Standardized language. Unique thought. Digital unsustainability. Technological subsidiarity.