Intelligence and artificial intelligence: the view of cultural anthropologist

Abstract

The article examines artificial intelligence as a different kind of intelligence, fundamentally distinct from human intelligence. The author approaches this issue from an anthropological perspective, demonstrating that human thought can follow various logics shaped by different sociocultural contexts. The focus is on unique ways of categorizing reality and understanding causality that manifest in either mythological or rational thinking.However, the author identifies essential differences between any human intelligence and the information processing of large language models (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini). Key aspects of human thought highlighted include its engagement in human activity in the world (as presented in A. N. Leontiev’s activity approach), openness to the world, lack of limitation by a set task, intentionality, internal spontaneity, and dialogical nature. The author concludes that the main distinction between artificial intelligence and human intelligence lies beyond cognitive processes; it resides in the realm of subjectivity and self-awareness.