Will AI think like humans in 10 years or Maybe Never?

It seems that every day, a new headline boasts about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the world. From self-driving cars to chatbots that crack jokes, AI has definitely come a long way in a short time. But here’s a hot question: Will AI ever truly think like a human being? if so when? Below, I’m diving into several reasons why that outcome might remain more science fiction than fact

The "Consciousness" Challenge

Let’s face it: AI doesn’t have self-awareness. At the core of human cognition is an intangible concept we often call consciousness. The awareness of being you, having personal experiences, emotions, and experiencing a burst of energy in the morning. AI, on the other hand, is built on data-driven models and algorithms. Maybe the AI can mimic emotions like a skilled actor reading lines. But the inner sense of self that’s so second nature to us simply doesn’t exist in machines. Without this spark of consciousness, AI remains a highly advanced (and sometimes witty) calculator.

Language vs. Reality Gap

Words are not the same as lived experiences. Humans understand the world through a blend of sensory data, physical interaction, and emotional feedback. When you reminisce about your favourite vacation spot, your mind conjures the smell of the ocean, the warmth of the sun, and that blissful feeling of escape. AI can describe a beach in vivid, flowery language but it doesn’t truly feel the sand under its feet or the sun on its back. Language models use words as tokens predicting the next likely word. That’s a remarkable trick, but it’s still missing that genuine connection to physical reality and personal experience. Due the language model just predicting the next possible word ( not really has the availability to think ) the answer might vary depending on the training data.

Most of the training data comes from us. Where we are mostly biased towards something, which might also reflect in the training data ( aka AI ).

Due to this cycle is hard to keep up the language model accurate and bias free.

The Complexity of Human Emotion

Feelings are more than just text. Sure, you can train an AI to mimic empathy, frustration, or excitement in a conversation. You can even feed it emotional data so it can respond, “I’m so sorry to hear that,” or, “Congratulations! I’m thrilled for you.” But real human emotion is a messy confluence of hormones, biochemistry, social context, and personal history. There’s an unpredictability and vulnerability in how we feel. AI isn’t subject to heartache, anxiety, or the endorphin rush after a successful run it can merely approximate those states in the words it generates. We humans sometimes feel like we cant understand our own emotion. it takes time and effort. Words alone might not fully express emotions, they're something you feel.

The Physical Embodiment Factor

Robots don’t (currently) live in flesh. Even if you gave AI arms, legs, and sensors, the integration of that hardware with AI software is still a massive technical challenge. Humans have motor skills tied to neural pathways, refined through trial, error, and muscle memory. The synergy of mind and body shapes how we perceive the world. AI, for the most part, does not physically interact with the environment the way we do. It can’t stub its toe on the coffee table or take a mindful breath during a morning walk. This bodily experience is deeply tied to our cognition and emotional states.

The Black-Box Problem

AI can’t explain itself like humans can. (Check out the pervious blog) Deep learning models, especially neural networks, are notorious “black boxes.” They churn out predictions or responses based on layer upon layer of complex weights and biases. While researchers are making strides in explainable AI, the reasoning behind an AI’s answer is often opaque, even to its own developers. Humans, on the other hand, can (at least somewhat) reflect on their thoughts, discuss their reasoning, and refine their conclusions. That capacity for introspection and transparency is a cornerstone of human-level thinking.

Conclusion

Will AI become so advanced that it’s indistinguishable from us? Maybe in some conversational contexts, sure. Modern ChatGPT models can already fool people sometimes. Yet the nuances of human cognition, consciousness, experience, raw emotion, unexpected creativity, moral complexity remain elusive. And that gap might not be bridgeable with mere brute force improvements in data and algorithms.

Ultimately, human thinking is the result of millions of years of evolution, an intricate brain that merges logic with a swirl of chemical reactions, and the social, cultural, and emotional tapestry we call life. AI can emulate certain aspects perhaps even surpass us in tasks like pattern recognition or memory retrieval but it stands on the outside looking in when it comes to the deeply personal, often illogical, and occasionally magical phenomenon of human thought.

And maybe that’s okay. Perhaps our push-and-pull with AI will remind us of what makes us uniquely human a perspective worth preserving even as technology continues to push boundaries.

Stay tuned to Lunagates.com for more insights into the hidden layers of technology that shape our world. Share you Thoughts below.