Which Intelligence is Smarter: Natural or Artificial?

In modern day, AI is growing more and more intelligent day by day, compared to the time when British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing developed the idea of AI in the 1930s. Now, AI is taking over a lot of jobs. About 13.7% of US citizens lose their job to AI, which is over 55,000 people. However, there is one question that some people question: has AI grown to be smarter than humans?

Before conducting my research to find out, I asked a small group of 12 people, ages ranging from 11-49, to take a short survey to see whether they think that natural or artificial intelligence is smarter. I also added a section where they can explain why they chose either natural or artificial intelligence. Here are the results:

According to the results, 10 people (83.3%) voted that Natural Intelligence is smarter and 2 people (16.7%) voted that Artificial Intelligence is smarter. I want to spotlight the strongest argument of both sides.

For Natural Intelligence, the spotlighted argument is from Person 1. They said: "AI just takes facts and can regurgitate them. True intelligence is able to take the facts and critically think and use them to make new observations and connections and apply them to new situations."

For Artificial Intelligence, the spotlighted argument is from Person 4. They said: "AI has an abundant amount of knowledge of all subjects. Where natural intelligence cannot compete to be experts in all areas. However, only humans can contain emotional intelligence and necessary interpersonal skills to connect with other people. And no matter how much knowledge someone learns through AI, they still need to have the interpersonal skills to effectively communicate ideas, problem solve in the moment, and connect with others on an emotional level."

Both arguments are very strong, and technically both are right. Humans are much more knowledgeable in coming up with new and creative ideas, while AI knows more about all subjects. So, logically, the smartest intelligence is when natural intelligence and artificial intelligence work together. To prove it, I researched my question and got the following results:

According to Anurad Reddy's article "Intelligence Redefined: Is AI Smarter Than Us Already?" on Analytics Insight, the following piece of text evidence was found: "Even the smartest AI still needs us humans to build it, teach it stuff, and feed it info. If the info is bad, AI can't learn anything! Messed-up info can lead to unfair or just plain wrong answers. Machines only do what we tell them. Plus, AI doesn't have feelings; it just does what we say, with no clue why. (Intelligence Redefined: Is AI Smarter Than Us Already? )"

Another piece of evidence is from Cleotilde Gonzalez, Kate Donahue, Daniel G Goldstein, Hoda Heidari, Mohammad S Jalali, Beau Schelble, Aarti Singh, and Anita Williams Woolley's article "Toward a science of human–AI teaming for decision making: A complementarity framework" on Oxford Academic, the following piece of evidence really stood out: "Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming deeply embedded in collective decision making that affects health, finance, safety, education, and governance. In these high-stakes domains, from medicine to public safety, deployments of AI often proceed without a clear theory of collaboration with humans, leading to issues such as erosion of human judgment (through automation bias or overreliance), diffusion of responsibility, and decisions that are faster yet harder to justify. To address these risks, researchers are increasingly making a distinction between AI as a team member rather than a mere tool. Human–AI teaming refers to 1 or more human agents and 1 or more AI agents working interdependently toward shared objectives. (Toward a science of human–AI teaming for decision making: A complementarity framework | PNAS Nexus | Oxford Academic )"

From these pieces of evidence, it is evident that multiple experts also have come to the conclusion that the smartest intelligence is when natural intelligence and artificial intelligence work together. The reason behind this is because each intelligence is smart in their own ways, think of it like the phrase "stronger together". However, there is one more question to answer in this article: When will AI surpass human intelligence?

The godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, can answer that question. According to Mataeo Smith's article "Terrified godfather of AI says we must make it our mother or be brutally exterminated", the following piece of text evidence was extracted: "Hinton is frequently referred to be the "godfather" of artificial intelligence. He believes that over the next 20 years, superintelligent AI-much smarter than humans-may be developed, as do many other specialists. According to Hinton, this kind of AI could be a "existential threat" that could take over and end our lives. (Terrified godfather of AI says we must make it our mother or be brutally exterminated "

The article above is suggesting that in the next 20 years, AI will be smart enough to take over humans. However, that is a topic that will be discussed in depth in a future article, so I won't go very deep in the future of AI in this article.

To sum up, this article has taught you that the smartest intelligence is when natural intelligence and artificial intelligence are working together. You've also learned about Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI's interpretation about the time period when AI surpasses human intelligence. How has your perspective of AI changed from before you read this article?