https://www.staldal.nu/tech/category/philosophy/ Recent content in Philosophy on Mikael Ståldal's technical blog Hugo en Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0100 https://www.staldal.nu/tech/2026/10/29/what-is-ai/ Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0100 https://www.staldal.nu/tech/2026/10/29/what-is-ai/ <h2 id="definition">Definition</h2> <p>By Artificial Intelligence (AI), I specifically mean systems powered by Large Language Models (LLMs).</p> <h2 id="how-we-should-understand-ai">How we should understand AI</h2> <p>There are many views on this. Some say it is just a statistical model and fundamentally just a computer program, though a very complicated one. Others say it has intelligence comparable to a human, and perhaps even has a consciousness.</p> <p>I think both these extremes get it wrong. On the one hand, you cannot reduce today&rsquo;s LLM-powered AI systems to just a statistical model and a regular computer program and believe that helps you understand it. On the other hand, I see no reason to believe that today&rsquo;s AI systems have human-like intelligence, let alone consciousness.</p>