What is under the hood of the Only Intelligence ever Created by Humanity? OPINION June 20, 2025
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Jun 19
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 20
What is under the hood of the Only Intelligence ever Created by Humanity?
From the dawn of humanity to our early ancestors of hunter-gatherers, whose fate depended on the ever-shifting nature that ruled over them. From the inception of the Roman Empire, whose leaders thought they were invincible as they basked in their everlasting glory from their houses of marble. To the peaks of the Industrial Age, where man reached adolescence and began to hold captive the only master that had ruled over him since his infancy. In man's awakening of might, nature became the slave and man the master.
Man has learned far more since the Industrial Age, as he has gained knowledge in all domains of existence in his quest to be more powerful than nature. As man moved into the technological revolution, man learned to fly machines, float machines, and make machines that do complex tasks using simple 1's and 0's. Man also designed elaborate algorithms to get the best out of those machineries and make better use of them. Subsequently, in his imminent maturity as an adult, man has learned that his revenge was something of a double-edged sword; he realized his future was dependent on the very thing he swore to destroy —nature. Hence, he enacted rules and put out regulations to stop his bad habits and break the cycle or bring it to an even ground, in which neither man nor nature reigned supreme, except only as equals. You might be wondering why I am telling you all of this. I am telling you this because all of these chains of events in the pages of history have something in common. It all transpired in the form of human intelligence. Behind it all was human pain, human ingenuity, human ambition, and human mistakes.
However, for the first time in history, man has created a new form of intelligence called artificial intelligence, which is capable of being his master or his greatest asset. One could say AI is an entity that has the potential of neither surrendering to the will of nature nor man. Inversely, one could also say AI is an entity that has the potential of being, by nature, and man. History will dictate our choice. I like to believe that man will choose the latter and, as such, assume his role of being an intermediary between the innate intelligence of nature, human intelligence, and artificial intelligence. In this new role, man must exert a greater influence and play a fundamental role in ensuring there is perfect unison of all these trinity forms of intelligence.
After all this, you might be wondering what artificial intelligence is, what the progress of artificial intelligence is as of 2025, and what the predictions of AI in the next 5 years? And the big question you might be asking yourself: how can AI be both by nature and humanity? We will answer all those questions in this article.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
In simple terms, Artificial Intelligence is a field of Computer Science in which systems are capable of behaving and performing tasks like humans. Unlike other systems, Artificial Intelligence systems can learn from the data they are fed, just like the way a human baby can learn from receiving new stimuli and basing future predictions on those stimuli. AI is no different, and the way AI learns is called machine learning, which is generally split into two domains: supervised learning and unsupervised learning. The former entails giving predefined inputs and outputs, and the AI makes new predictions based on that. The dataset is usually broken into two parts: training data and testing data. The testing data is used to validate the predictive nature of the AI system. A score is used to quantify the accuracy of the predictions of the AI model - the higher the score, the better. The latter entails giving AI no predefined inputs and outputs, and it's up to the AI to figure out patterns from the data and then come up with predictions from the underlying patterns found.
There are other ways AI can learn, such as deep learning and reinforcement learning. The first uses neural networks that mimic the human brain; the data is stacked on multiple layers of linked nodes that mimic brain neurons, allowing for complex tasks to be solved. Self-driving cars are a great example of Artificial Neural Networks at play. The second, on the other hand, deals with AI agents that are given rewards and punishments depending on their results. The goal of the agent is to get better at understanding its environment. This is essentially a trial-and-error process; a great example is Deep Seek R1 Large Language Model, in which they used reinforcement learning to train and enhance their LLM reasoning capabilities. In simple terms, artificial intelligence systems are systemic tools capable of doing human tasks.
What Is the Progress of Artificial Intelligence in 2025?
As of now, Artificial Intelligence is still in its infancy. As we witnessed over the last two years, we have seen major developments in terms of Generative AI. We are still seeing great developments going on in Gen AI. In terms of rapid developments in the field, we saw AI agents become widespread over the last six months. Imagine a Virtual Assistant AI agent talking with an airline Assistant AI agent to book your plane ticket! These are the many use cases of AI agents. One challenge that stood in the way of AI agents was the complex and time-consuming API integrations. Think of APIs as the way applications talk to one another and share data. However, that has been solved with the proposal of "Model Context Protocol" by Anthropic. MCPs are thus simplifying the way AI applications receive external information from other applications, allowing for better communication, time management, and saving energy. Imagine an AI agent robot that detects wildfires, communicating seamlessly via API with another AI agent at the fire department. What makes AI agents different is the fact that they can think and perceive their environments, and act on their own within their respective boundary environments. AI agents are even being deployed in drug research, where what took months in research now only takes mere days. The potential of AI agents is vast and has many real-world applications.
What are the predictions of AI in the next 5 years?
As of now, we have yet to achieve Artificial General Intelligence. Most are speculating that we will reach AGI by 2029. AGI is the period in which AI can do all the tasks an average human can do. As of now, the AI industry is very centralized by a few major tech companies, but with AI Agents, we are seeing more decentralized forms of AI. Open source models are being pushed and used as leverage to drive innovation. This forces the bigger companies not to have a monopoly on the AI industry. All of these culminating efforts in turn promote the pace at which we will reach AGI. On the other hand, Artificial Super Intelligence is still a dream. ASI is characterized as the period when AI surpasses human intelligence. This will take us some time, so for the moment, it is a distant dream that is inevitable.
How Ai can be in accordance with nature and humanity.
Sustainable AI is one of the most important initiatives in current history. AI requires immense data centers to power it. In 2024, global data centers consumed about 5% of the world's electricity. As demand for AI increases, data centers' electricity consumption will grow exponentially. Therefore, we must build sustainable methods to power AI. Nuclear energy is emerging as an alternative, sustainable source and has gained significant traction in recent months. The EU leads the campaign for sustainable AI, with France offering decarbonized AI data centers to AI firms. Major tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle have discussed plans to explore nuclear energy as a viable alternative to traditional power methods. Global AI is forecasted to consume as much energy as all of Japan by 2030. Alternative energy sources are essential to power AI sustainably, and we appear to be moving in the right direction toward preserving nature.
Beyond environmental concerns, AI must be human-friendly. It needs to be free of biases and accommodate all human identities and cultures. AI must be accessible across all cultures because if a few countries maintain a monopoly over AI, we risk the extinction of many cultures. AI would then become nothing more than an echo chamber reflecting a limited set of belief systems while negating others. We must champion a more inclusive AI that allows all to participate. Currently, we're seeing great progress in this direction, with large language models incorporating previously underrepresented languages from Africa, Asia, and South America.
Conclusion
In our journey through human history, we have witnessed the evolution of intelligence from nature's rule to human mastery, and now to the dawn of artificial intelligence. As of 2025, AI has made remarkable strides, particularly in generative AI and AI agents, with innovations like the Model Context Protocol streamlining communication between AI systems. While AGI remains on the horizon and ASI is still a distant possibility, the focus is increasingly on developing sustainable and inclusive AI systems.
The challenge of powering AI sustainably through alternative energy sources like nuclear power and ensuring AI remains culturally inclusive and unbiased represents our commitment to creating harmony between artificial intelligence, human intelligence, and nature. As we stand at this crucial stage, our choices and actions will determine whether AI becomes a force that works for both humanity and nature, fulfilling its potential as a transformative technology that benefits all.
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