Daniel, it all depends upon how we define “smarter.” Certainly AI is more capable than humans in certain functions that we regard as cognitive. For example, the rate at which signals can be transmitted along myelinated axons connecting neurons in the brain can be about 100 m/s. However, the propagation velocity of electric current in a computer chip is close to the speed of light which is about 300,000,000 m/s. That’s why a computer can be much more efficient than the human mind in performing computations or processing information.
Furthermore, computer memory is virtually unlimited, while the human brain is limited to about 86 billion neurons. For this reason, computers can store and retrieve much more information than the human brain and process that information more quickly. Artificial intelligence of the kind available in chatGPT is remarkable in its ability to simulate human thinking processes and to compose comprehensive reports faster than humans; however, it is constrained by the information that is already stored in it.
The extent to which it will be able to create new ideas and make new discoveries is still under debate. It is also unclear whether computers have intelligence, whether they simulate intelligence, or whether there’s a difference between the two. This is a debate between the two schools of thought called “hard AI” and “soft AI”. There is also a significant debate about whether computers will develop a sense of identity as described in the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey or whether the computer is just a “giant stupid.”
