Machine intelligence : from no longer a blind automatism to not yet the intelligence of the living

Krašovec, Primož (author)

This essays presents an attempt to expand the concept of intelligence through a critique of anthropocentric views of intelligence that hold that human is the only true and possible intelligence. We are aiming for a more generic view of intelligence that sees it as a relation to one’s environment and as involving sensing as well as rational (in a sense of non-random) and autonomous (in a sense of not being ‘programmed’ from without) behaviour that also involves of learning and self-evaluation. Such expanded view of intelligence also allows for a recognition and appreciation of machine intelligence. Although it was first developed in technological design, this new view of intelligence also reveals something new about biological intelligence(s). On the above definition, not only is all life intelligent but the definitions of life and intelligence have become so close as to be almost indistinguishable. Even unicellular organisms with no nervous systems (or single cells within larger organisms) employ sensing, evaluation, learning and autonomous ‘rational’ decision making and that is what distinguishes them from non-living matter and makes them intelligent at the same time. With current developments in deep learning (DL) artificial intelligence (AI), machine intelligence might be approaching the intelligence of the living in some aspects, while it is still far from it in others.

• Language: English
• Keywords: life, intelligence, artificial intelligence, machines, technics
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 13.03.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 1-13
• Numbering: Vol. 6, iss. 205
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180802
• UDC: 316.74:004.8
• ISSN on article: 2731-0809
• DOI: 10.1007/s44163-026-00928-7
• COBISS.SI-ID: 271854851
• Publication date in RUL: 16.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Discover Artificial Intelligence
• Shortened title: Discov. Artif. Intell.
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 2731-0809
• COBISS.SI-ID: 86275843

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: življenje, inteligenca, umetna inteligenca, avtonomno odločanje, racionalno odločanje, zaznavanje, ocenjevanje, biološka inteligenca, globoko učenje, strojno učenje, stroji, tehnika