Are You a Robot? How AI is Redefining What It Means to Be Human

Each year, the line separating humans and artificial intelligence becomes thinner and blurrier. The difference between man and machine was evident in the past: robots couldn't walk, talk, or solve complex problems. Today, however, not only are there walking and talking devices, but computers have learned skills that even the best athletes and scientists can never match. For example, modern chess engines are so good at the game that they can calculate hundreds of moves in advance, something that even the best grandmasters can only dream of.

These advancements have created a baffling (and scary) dilemma: is it only a matter of time before wires and code can do everything that flesh and blood can do? If so, what does it even mean to be human?

The Robot Apocalypse Isn't Coming Anytime Soon

The dystopian drama wherein humans have become enslaved by sentient machines is not real--at least not yet. Full sentience is a technology still beyond the current programming models. Furthermore, there is an ongoing debate about whether it's possible to replicate reason and free will.

What's not debatable is that AI is working alongside humans, playing both constructive and destructive roles in society. An example of the former is imaging technology -- it's now possible to have the computer digitally enhance blurry photos, thus providing significant value to multimedia and content creators. An example of the latter is a troll farm that spreads misinformation on social media; elections worldwide are in peril because these programs automatically create believable black propaganda.

The Merging Between Man and Machine

The definition of what it means to be alive used to be simple. Since ancient times, heartbeat has been the standard criterion to determine whether a person was still a person. If someone had a pulse, they were considered alive. If not, they were considered dead.

This definition has changed as medicine has progressed. For example, someone can have a heartbeat but be permanently unconscious.  Doctors have since designated brain activity as the primary indicator. However, this is still inadequate, as family members have waged famous court battles by suing hospitals for terminating their loved ones' life support systems; they insist that patients are still responsive to stimuli despite having no brainwaves. Physicians at Harvard Medical School have therefore suggested redefining human life as responsiveness -- or the ability to react to the environment accordingly -- rather than brain activity. This would finally satisfy all parties involved, right?

Not exactly. Advances in AI and robotics are further complicating the matter. For example, engineers have invented artificial hearts that perform all the functions of a biological heart. Because of this, a few people walk around with no heart, at least not the one they were born with. This begs the question: if science can create artificial hearts, can it also make artificial brains? Can science ultimately develop AI that can respond to its environment in a way that only humans can?

The Turing Test and the Future of Mankind

The computer scientist Alan Turing famously proposed a test wherein a human observer would interact with another human being and an AI. If the human observer could not differentiate which of the two was the human and which was the machine, the AI would pass the test.

Since Turing suggested this experiment in the 1950s, there have been significant advances in computer programming (an understatement). Machines can now mimic human behavior with minimal difficulty. Moreover, AI has gotten so lifelike that audiobook companies are now experimenting with neural narration, which is cheaper to produce and sounds as believable as human narration.

We're Still Human, at Least for Now

Even after all these advancements, the good news is that AI has yet to achieve genuine consciousness. Instead, developers have imitated human behavior through brute-force computing. In other words, machines copy people's actions without adding originality.

But human beings are far too complex. The human spirit involves a tangled web of emotions, memories, positive and negative experiences, values, vices, and, quite frankly, illogical decisions. AI, on the other hand, is cold and calculating, never deviating from its programming. The one thing that all humans share is the ability to make mistakes while still functioning effectively, something that computers built for perfection may never be able to mimic successfully.

As AI rapidly changes how we view ourselves, the comforting fact is that we're still unique in our ability to achieve incredible highs and equally abysmal lows. This is because we're still human, at least for now.