AI and human intelligence are drastically different – here’s how

When you walk into a doctor’s office, you assume something so basic that it barely needs to be articulated: your doctor has touched a body before. They studied anatomy, saw organs, and learned the difference between radiating and pulsating pain. They assume that they have acquired this knowledge not only through reading, but also through years of practical experience and training.

Now imagine discovering that this doctor has never encountered a dead body. Instead, they have simply read millions of patient testimonials and learned, down to the smallest detail, what a diagnosis typically “sounds like.” Your explanations would still feel convincing and even reassuring. The rhythm would be correct, the vocabulary impeccable, the phrasing reassuringly familiar. And yet something essential would unravel once one learned what their knowledge actually consisted of – patterns in texts rather than contact with the world.

Every day, many of us turn to tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT for medical advice,…