What we really mean by AI – and what we don’t
“Artificial Intelligence” sounds like science fiction: robots that have feelings, philosophize with us, or write the perfect tax return. In reality, AI is a deeply mathematical system of algorithms that solves tasks previously reserved for humans. Intelligent behavior – without its own consciousness or emotions.
It ’s important to understand that an AI is not “omniscient”; it’s simply very, very fast at analyzing very, very large amounts of data.
The unimaginable quantity of data, combined with now available computing power, allows us to virtually realize the “infinite monkey theorem”: “If you gave infinitely many monkeys infinite time, they would eventually write all the works of Shakespeare.”
Everyday life: AI everywhere – from coffee machines to customer support
Whether it’s Google Maps (which usually gets you to your destination safely), Instagram suggesting cat pictures, or ChatGPT eagerly spitting out texts and jokes – AI is already part of our daily lives. It sorts emails, assists with diagnoses in hospitals, and recommends the perfect song for every mood.
The magic? The ability to deliver the right response from countless examples – faster than any human ever could.
How does AI “think”? A look under the hood
Here it gets interesting – and surprisingly mathematical.
- The Question
First, the text is sent to the model (“What is the capital of France?”), which dutifully converts it into numbers (so-called “tokenization”). - Recognizing Patterns, Juggling Probabilities
The AI scans what kind of question is being asked, recognizes key terms and question types, sorts by similar patterns known from training, and analyzes the context. - The Big Picture
With mathematical methods (!), the AI checks how the words are connected and which sequences are typical. - The Probability Ballet
For each possible next word, the AI creates a ranking: What fits best? Paris, Berlin, Istanbul? The mathematically most plausible answer wins. A bit like the audience poll in a quiz show. - The Answer
The answer is built step by step. The AI constructs the solution word by word, always following the principle: The most likely fitting expression comes next.
What does this have to do with real “understanding”?
The sobering answer: Very little, if anything. AI recognizes patterns, learns from billions of examples, and simulates understanding extremely well – but it doesn’t really know what a word means, why people are sad, or what is actually so special about Paris.
AI and emotions: Simulation instead of heartbeats
Can AI have feelings? It can pretend and even simulate them wonderfully – such as when a chatbot responds empathetically to complaints.
But: It’s always mathematical imitation, never genuine experience or emotion. Machines don’t need chocolate for heartbreak, they just know from countless training examples that chocolate can be comforting.
The great race: Efficiency beats data quantity!
People once thought: Whoever has the most data wins the AI race. Today, we see: It’s not just the amount of data that counts, but also how smart and efficient the algorithms perform calculations. The winner is whoever delivers the best answers the fastest and with the least energy.
Example from daily life: Chatbots that find the most relevant answer from millions of possibilities in a flash – because they know mathematical shortcuts and clever training methods, like a good student with cheat notes.
Infallible?
Artificial Intelligence is not infallible. It can make mistakes – for example, when its data contains so many errors that it mistakes them for truth. It can also “take a wrong turn” during analysis and create connections that seem logical but are actually incorrect.
This is reminiscent of a well-known fallacy: Something doesn’t automatically become right just because many people – or monkeys – do it. Sheer numbers of voices or actions do not guarantee truth.
Ultimately, truth does not arise from repetition or majority, but from careful examination and critical thinking – in both people and machines. Unfortunately, careful examination and critical thinking haven’t yet taken hold everywhere among humans – in my city, for example, even the “wrong” football club has more members than the “right” (or better ‘left’) one 😉
A Million Monkeys
Back to the philosophical theorem mentioned at the beginning: While the infinite monkey theorem relies purely on chance, AI uses sophisticated algorithms to identify patterns in vast amounts of data.
This makes it much more than a digital monkey: it is a mathematical genius that simulates language and logic in increasingly impressive ways.But: Real understanding, emotions, and deep consciousness? Those remain exclusive to humans. In the end, we have simply given an awful lot of virtual monkeys infinite time to deal with our questions…
The point is to understand AI for what it is: an (almost) perfect tool for solving complex tasks and accelerating processes. It is the “super-intern” of the digital age – nothing more, nothing less, and still far from true thinking.