In Search of Real Intelligence
In 2008, Disney/Pixar give humanity a comically dystopian view of the future of AI with Wall-E. The human race abandoned the earth – a planet used and abused for its many natural resources at the service of humankind - and left for a years long luxury cruise through space while the machines they helped create try to clean up the mess. These sedentary future humans seemingly have abdicated all work functions to the machines. While AI is never explicitly mentioned, we know all too well this story. The machines learned! They conspired against humanity barring their eventual return to terra firma. However, the movie ends with a note of hope as organic life reemerges in the form of one little plant, and the humans do return to try and reclaim humanity.
AI has always been the stuff of great fiction. Tales of science fiction did not make me fear the eventual takeover by the machine. In fact, such stories help draw a distinction between the limits of Artificial Intelligence and the promise of Real Intelligence. Now, however, fiction is becoming reality, and the evil genius fueling bold claims about the promise of AI is Elon Musk.
At the January 2026 56th World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr. Musk made an appearance and spoke on the future and promise of AI and a world of robots. Among many comments, he stated (as reported in AI Magazine, January 23, 2026):
"I think we might have AI that is smarter than any human by the end of 2026," he says, adding that this milestone would likely occur "no later than next year".
Looking further ahead, he predicted that, by "2030 or 2031, AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively.”
According to Elon, the progression represents a major shift in the context of civilisation. He suggested that the exponential growth of AI capabilities would eventually "saturate human needs" and trigger unprecedented economic expansion on a global scale.
He argued that the convergence of advanced AI and robotics represents "the path to abundance for all," potentially offering solutions to global poverty and labour shortages.
Much has been written about the promise and peril of AI. There is always a reluctance to embrace what is new, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of ignorance. Then we reach a tipping point, and we fully embrace the new. Institutions of higher education see such an embrace as a way to be on the cutting edge and therefore attract more students. History teaches us that advances in technology lead to eras of growth, prosperity, and ingenuity. Surely there are abuses and misuses (think splitting the atom), but we seem to find a way forward. We find that way forward because humans exert control. The human heart and mind exert influence over such developments. These hearts and minds are formed in many ways, and they possess conscience and ethical underpinnings that the machine mind does not possess.
Education in the liberal arts and humanities is integral to the formation of such hearts and minds and reason. I have spent over 40 years working in education, that vast majority of it in higher education. I have been privileged to serve as a president at two colleges and a vice president at four. I have worked in primarily small, faith-based, institutions. If you examine the mission statements of these institutions, a call to ‘serve the world and its people’ is a common theme. Many of these faith-based colleges and universities pre-date the foundation of America’s public universities and community colleges. They were inextricably a part of the formation of the American conscience. They were part of the westward expansion of the United States. As communities were planted, institutional foundations were laid for churches, hospitals, schools, and colleges.
As new schools of thought and new technologies emerged, these institutions embraced them and created context for their meaning. While some, perhaps many, of these colleges and universities have strayed from their religious or doctrinal identity, the founding ideas remain.
These places have been the keepers of “real” intelligence. By that I mean intelligence that sits squarely in the realm of the intellect, but which is nurtured and influenced by reason and the heart. It is often shaped by faith. Real intelligence is an outgrowth of reason. The danger of AI is that it has no heart. It needs human tending and guidance by a human moral compass. Another danger with AI is that it can be corrupted by those who lack a well-formed conscience.
I believe that AI is a key element in the rise of uncivil debate and the vitriol we see played out in social media. The unintelligent and the ignorant sound intelligent through the use of generative AI. All you have to do is speak the right prompt from your point of view, and you will be provided a manifesto of information that supports that point of view. Since it is generated by ‘intelligence’ though artificial, it must be true. To question AI output in the public arena can trigger an outpouring of scorn from those whose point of view has been formed by the wellspring of AI.
AI certainly promises pathways to solve some of our most salient societal issues. For example, AI may be able to determine new and more effective ways to grow, process, produce, and distribute food to a world where people continue to starve, but the act of distribution and the desire to feed those who are hungry is driven by the human heart.
When Mr. Musk refers to “abundance for all” is he expecting the machine to mete out this abundance? Will a robot tell us that we should welcome the refugee and care for the poor? Will humanity rise above its petty political ideologies and submit to the will of the machine in sharing abundance? The clear answer is NO! Humans with well developed moral compasses, possessors of real intelligence, will guide the hand of the. AI is the tool wielded by humanity. To think AI will ever become human is truly dystopian. Real intelligencer must always be the guiding force behind AI.
Leon Botstein from Bard College says “It is only in the cultivation of human experience — our capacity to think, to link the mind with the heart in writing, imagining, and creating — that we will remain free in an AI-dominated universe (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2023, May 25).
Reinvesting in real intelligence and renewing a commitment to the development of the human heart and conscience through a robust renewal of teaching and learning in the liberal arts and humanities could provide both a moral and financial path forward. President Kent Trachte of Lycoming College invokes the humanities and asserts “Cultivating the capacity to connect to and empathize with others is something the humanities have historically done, and [that] is critical to our ability to heal ourselves as a society and have a functioning democracy” (Inside Higher Ed, 2024, January 16). Lycoming has seen a modest but relevant increase in interest in humanities studies.
It is telling that our movie hero, Wall-e, seeks to be more human with all of its mess and chaos. Will the machine learn that it’s better to be human after all?
J. Michael Pressimone, Ed.D. is a consultant to higher education and Senior Consultant with RH Perry.
