Keir Starmer said last week that artificial intelligence was one of the territories where “the future will be won” — and that the UK plans to win it. But one expert has never been more sure of the human brain’s superiority over AI. That person is theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili, who spent the past year learning about the development of the brain for the two-part BBC series Secrets of the Brain.
In the series, he discovers how the very first brain structure appeared at least 521 million years ago. It’s this fact, on top of everything else, that reinforces his beliefs. “We’re comparing 500 million years of brain development with decades [in AI],” says Al-Khalili. He was motivated to lead the series due to the relatively sudden rise of AI. He isn’t opposed to AI in the slightest, saying that he finds ChatGPT “incredibly useful” and believes it could be the answer to long-standing global issues, such as climate change.
