By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-05-03 11:00:00
UUntil recently, we humans could be complacent about our abilities. No other animals play board games, write essays, or prove mathematical theorems. But recently, advances in AI seem to be challenging our self-image as the most intelligent beings around. AI systems not only beat us at the most complicated games, but can also write sophisticated prose and win medals in mathematics. Tech CEOs promise us that superhuman AI is imminent. So, in the age of AI, is the human mind still special or just a side effect?
When people talk about superhuman AI, they assume that intelligence is on a single scale. My parents marked my younger brother and I’s heights on the door frame of our laundry. Every year he got a little closer to me, until one year the unthinkable happened and he was taller than me (he’s now 6 feet tall). The current moment feels a bit like that, as we look at these new younger siblings with concern that they might overtake us.
But intelligence is not like size. There is only one…