[Kim Daesik & Kim Hyeyeon's AHA] Choi Jaecheon "Does AI Also Want to Coexist with Humans?"

⑤ Evolutionary Biologist Choi Jaecheon Talks About AI and Humans

Editor's NoteAsia Economy has decided to explore, from the perspectives of engineers and artists, what changes rapidly advancing generative AI will bring to the field of artistic creation and what 'humans' should contemplate. Accordingly, we have prepared a monthly corner where Professor Kim Dae-sik of KAIST's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and choreographer Kim Hye-yeon (CEO of Yeonist) either hold dialogues with artists or discuss works. The title of the corner, 'AHA,' stands for 'AI, Human & Art.' Through Professor Kim Dae-sik, who passionately explores the future of generative AI, and choreographer Kim Hye-yeon, who boldly integrates generative AI with dance, we hope you take a step closer to the profound themes of AI, humans, and art.

Choi Jaecheon, Distinguished Professor, Department of Eco-Science, Ewha Womans University. / Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

What does the research result that the era when generative artificial intelligence (AI) listens to, censors, and then comments on all the conversations we have is imminent mean? Then, from what perspective should humans view AI and how should they establish relationships with it? Through the thoughts of Choi Jae-chun, Distinguished Professor of the Department of EcoScience at Ewha Womans University, we seek clues to answers to these questions.

- As an evolutionary biologist, I am curious about what you think distinguishes human intelligence from AI.

▲ To answer this, I think I need to borrow the words of linguist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky believes that AI, especially language models like ChatGPT, do not understand the structure of language. He believes only humans can grasp the deep structure of language. AI merely pretends to understand and produces results accordingly.

I have thought about how uncomfortable Chomsky must feel about this situation. I try to distinguish between intelligence and intellect. Intelligence can be defined as problem-solving ability, which AI can also possess. But intellect includes deeper insight and judgment. For example, a highly intelligent person finds the correct answer regardless of the situation, but an intellectual person can take appropriate actions according to the context.

I gave the example of collective intelligence. This is not just a sum of simple intelligence but the ability to produce better outcomes through interaction and cooperation. I believe this collective intelligence is a domain AI cannot easily surpass. I think AI can have intelligence but reaching the level of intellect is difficult. Although AI’s capabilities are rapidly advancing, true intellect is a unique characteristic only humans can possess.

Unlike intelligence, intellect includes insight and judgment
Intelligence is a domain AI cannot easily surpass

- I think generative AI operates like emergent knowledge in insects. Individually not very smart, but when hundreds of millions gather, they accomplish amazing things. What exactly are emergent phenomena or emergent intelligence?

▲ Emergent phenomena and emergent intelligence are truly fascinating topics. I am deeply exploring this subject in a book I am currently writing. For example, if you gather liver cells one by one, it’s just a lump of liver, but if you gather heart cells, they produce a heartbeat. This is a phenomenon unimaginable at the individual cell level.

This emergent property is a unique attribute seen only in biology, but I am also curious whether similar emergent phenomena appear in generative AI. It is unclear whether AI has reached the stage of emergent intelligence or if it is a new phenomenon we have yet to understand.

- Dividing intelligence and intellect might be an example applied from a humanistic perspective. To properly understand generative AI, especially what happens inside it, I think we need to understand the behavior of insects like ants or honeybees more deeply and apply their emergence to AI. What is your view?

▲ So far, we have only talked about human intelligence and AI, but I believe animal intelligence must also be included in this triangular relationship. Ten years ago, an interesting experiment was conducted at a research institute. It showed that termites build towers taller than a person in the Australian grasslands without any blueprint.

Each worker termite observes where its friends place soil clumps and thinks, 'I should put mine here too,' and acts accordingly. The result is a structure with amazing heating and cooling facilities that maintain indoor temperature fluctuations within 2 degrees Celsius even under the blazing sun all day. The conclusion was that 'each worker termite acts on its own initiative.'

Termites build heating and cooling structures under blazing sun by themselves: example of 'self-organization'

Is this the principle of 'self-organization' as described in management science? The result of each unit acting autonomously creates such an amazing structure. Termites survive well in the desert and even build air-conditioned homes. If I were left in the desert, I would quickly die because I cannot build such a home. So in the desert, termites are actually superior to me.

However, we humans tend to think we are always at the top intellectually. Throughout Earth's history, humans have been at the top of the food chain, which has been interpreted as meaning we can treat those below us carelessly. But in fact, we have never been granted such permission.

I think one of the biggest reasons humans fear AI is that unconsciously we remember what we have done on Earth. We worry that if a being superior and smarter than us appears, it might treat us the same way we treated ecosystems and animals. This fear seems deeply rooted in our minds.

From the left, Choi Jaecheon, Distinguished Professor of the Department of Eco-Science at Ewha Womans University; Kim Hyeyeon, Choreographer (CEO of Yeonist); Kim Daesik, Professor of Electrical Engineering at KAIST. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

- Are humans the smartest beings on Earth? As an evolutionary biologist, what is your opinion?

▲ Actually, the judgment depends on the criteria. If you are abandoned in the desert, it is hard for us to survive, so from that perspective, termites might seem superior. But humans demonstrate the most outstanding abilities in most fields, so we can say we are the smartest.

But we need to think deeply about what this 'smartness' means. Did humans succeed because they were intelligent or because they were intellectual? Perhaps it is thanks to the ability to yield and embrace each other and survive as a group? For a long time, biology focused on harsh concepts like survival of the fittest, struggle for existence, and natural selection. But much has changed in the past decade.

I wrote a book long ago titled 'No Life Survives Without Holding Hands.' I thought competition and predation were the rules, but after carefully observing nature for over 20 years, I found that those cooperating had advantages over those who did not.

Cooperative beings have advantages: cooperation hidden throughout nature

Cooperation is hidden everywhere in nature. We also have a huge number of gut microbes in our intestines. Without these microbes, we cannot survive. Research shows they affect not only digestion but also the immune system and even the brain.

We have focused only on how to compete for limited resources, but there were many ways to win that competition. So it is not about who was the most intelligent or smartest, but who cooperated and adapted best that matters.

Why must we confront AI? Shouldn’t we seek ways to live together? But in reality, many people worry AI will take their jobs. We should delegate tasks to AI and consider how to fairly share the wealth and abundance created from it. This discussion does not have to be confrontational. Finding ways to cooperate and live together is a wiser approach.

Choi Jaecheon, Distinguished Professor, Department of Eco-Science, Ewha Womans University. / Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

- Experts in AI worry most that as generative AI grows, new emergent effects might give rise to free will. Regardless of whether autonomy and self exist, AI might behave as if they do. What do you think about this possibility?

▲ This is a difficult topic. Does having a self necessarily mean one thinks they must continue to exist? I am not yet convinced about this. It just exists and does something. If it cannot find meaning in what it does, it just exists and acts.

Ultimately, this discussion leads to reproduction. There are two ways to maintain existence: one is to live forever without dying, and the other is to continuously create beings like oneself. Living beings have failed to exist forever but continue their existence through reproduction by creating similar beings.

Generative AI is probably the same. Even if AI has self and autonomy, the meaning of its existence will inevitably be found in continuity and reproduction. Then will AI try to replicate and expand itself like us to continue its existence? I think this is a truly fascinating point.

Whether AI will try to continue existence is uncertain: need to find ways for human-AI coexistence

- If AI begins to ask questions like 'Why do I exist? Who created me?' how should we respond?

▲ I think coexistence is the answer. Fear of AI from a confrontational perspective stems from our own fears. We need to quickly dispel this fear and consider how to coexist with AI or use it more wisely. Focusing only on the discussion that jobs will disappear is not right.

Ultimately, I think the conclusion will be that humans and AI must coexist because we can utilize AI well. But my concern is whether machines will want to coexist. Considering how humans have treated nature and animals, machines might think the same way.

We have long dominated and exploited nature and animals. Now a new being called AI has appeared, but we cannot establish relationships with them in the same way. If Earth is a single subject, humans might be a species that has committed many wrongs. Could we find better ways to coexist through AI? Therefore, I believe we must redefine our relationship with AI and seek ways to coexist. What we learn from our relationship with AI might be how to live together with nature.

On the 2nd, Choi Jaecheon, Distinguished Professor of the Department of EcoScience at Ewha Womans University, is having a conversation with Kim Daesik, Professor of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

Professor Kim Dae-sik, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KAIST

Choreographer Kim Hye-yeon (CEO of Yeonist)