A neuroscientist explains why it’s impossible for AI to "understand" language

A neuroscientist explains why it’s impossible for AI to "understand" language

Can artificial intelligence truly “understand” language the way humans do? A neuroscientist challenges this popular belief, arguing that machines may generate convincing text—but they lack the emotional, contextual, and biological grounding that gives real meaning to human communication.

Context, Emotion, and Biology: What AI Misses in Language Comprehension

As meaning-makers, we use spoken or signed language to understand our experiences in the world around us. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT (using large language models ) call into question the very notion of how to define “meaning.” One popular characterization of AI tools is that they “understand” what they are doing. Nobel laureate and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton said: “What’s really surprised me is how good n…