The Atlantic

The Spooky Genius of Artificial Intelligence

AI doesn’t think—it evolves.
Source: Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

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Can artificial intelligence be smarter than a person? Answering that question often hinges on the definition of artificial intelligence. But it might make more sense, instead, to focus on defining what we mean by “smart.”

In the 1950s, the psychologist J. P. Guilford divided creative thought into two categories: convergent thinking and divergent thinking. Convergent thinking, which Guilford defined as the ability to answer questions correctly, is predominantly a display of memory and logic. Divergent thinking, the ability to generate potential answers from a single problem or question, shows a flair for curiosity, an

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