What AI Can Never Be | John Vervaeke

Can artificial intelligence truly become wise?

In this landmark lecture, John Vervaeke explores the future of AI through a lens few dare to examine: the limits of intelligence itself. He unpacks the critical differences between intelligence, rationality, reasonableness, and wisdom—terms often used interchangeably in discussions around AGI. Drawing from decades of research in cognitive science and philosophy, John argues that while large language models like ChatGPT demonstrate forms of generalized intelligence, they fundamentally lack core elements of human cognition: embodiment, caring, and participatory knowing.

By distinguishing between propositional, procedural, perspectival, and participatory knowing, he reveals why the current paradigm of AI is not equipped to generate consciousness, agency, or true understanding. This lecture also serves as a moral call to action: if we want wise machines, we must first become wiser ourselves.

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Ideas, People, and Works Mentioned in this Episode:

Jeff Hinton

Jordan Peterson

Keith Stanovich

Michael Levin

Stroop Effect

Bertrand Russell

Plato (Republic, Symposium)

Predictive Processing

Relevance Realization

Spearman (1926)

DeepMind (DeepSeek)

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