AI Is Going to Win Against Human Intelligence, Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman Says

Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel laureate famous for his research on how cognitive biases lead us to make irrational decisions, has stated that humans stand no chance against artificial intelligence (AI). The 87-year-old Israeli-born psychologist said he believes AI will lead to a massive disruption because the technology is developing very rapidly for people to adjust to. Asked what he felt about the dangers of using AI to augment human judgement, he said that there will be massive consequences of that, and some of that change is already happening. How they are going to adjust to this change is “a fascinating problem,” he added.

Kahneman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002 along with American Vernon L. Smith. His first book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” was a worldwide bestseller, in which he set out his revolutionary ideas about human error and bias.

The Nobel laureate also said that some medical specialties face the danger of being replaced by AI. He added that it would be a frightening scenario when AI is able to demonstrate that it has a better judgement than the leadership of an organisation or institution.

“Some medical specialties are clearly in danger of being replaced, certainly in terms of diagnosis. And there are rather frightening scenarios when you’re talking about leadership. Once it’s demonstrably true that you can have an AI that has far better business judgment, say, what will that do to human leadership?” Kahneman told during an interview with The Guardian.

On the topic of AI to augment human judgement, he said that there would be “massive disruption,” because while technology is “developing exponentially,” “people are linear,” making adapting a difficult task. As such, humans are experienced in dealing with a more or less linear world and are not equipped to handle exponential phenomena. “Exponential phenomena are almost impossible for us to grasp.” He added, “And clearly AI is going to win [against human intelligence]. It’s not even close.”

Stating that it will be a “fascinating problem” how people are going to adjust to that change, Kahneman said “but one for my children and grandchildren, not me.”