Does AI Think?
Open accessAbstract
This article raises a very relevant question today: “Does AI think?” To come up with an answer, it explores several conceptions of knowledge, from classical Aristotelian notions to modern philosophers’ takes on it. For Aristotle, knowledge starts with the senses, and, through epagoge and nous, it grows into an understanding of the nature of the thing known, which is something that does not happen with AI. Modern schools of thoughts are either rationalist or empiricist. For rationalists, knowledge is innate, while empiricists believe all knowledge comes from the senses. As Kant views it, knowledge is “built” on sensorial data with the use of theoretical reason categories. Based on these approaches, it is harder to claim that AI does not think by itself. The article also reviews current philosophers’ views on AI and AI thinking. Summing up, the answer to the initial question depends on the concept of knowledge adopted. As this article shares the classical notion of thinking, it concludes that AI does not think.
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The assumption that actions of AI can be interpreted in relation to its thinking seems unfulfilled.
“Hence, this assumption seems to be unfulfilled (Crespo, 2024).”
From There is no such thing as conscious artificial intelligence (2025) · cites this paper as Crespo, 2024
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There is no such thing as conscious artificial intelligence
Porębski, A., & Figura, J. (2025) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-025-05868-8 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Hence, this assumption seems to be unful fi lled (Crespo, 2024).”
- Authors
- Crespo, R.
- Affiliations
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
- Corresponding author
- Crespo, Ricardo
- ORCID
- Crespo, Ricardo
- Venue
- Scientia et Fides
- Published
- 2024-10-25
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 37-47
- ISSN
- 2300-7648 (ISSN-L)
- 2353-5636
- OpenAlex
- W4403837346
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 0.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Scientia et Fides (publishedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- Conicet (submittedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence, machine thinking, concept of knowledge, Aristotle, epagoge, nous, rationalism, empiricism, Immanuel Kant, categories of understanding, philosophy of artificial intelligence, innate knowledge
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