Intelligence, Wisdom, and Artificial Intelligence: From Human Capability to Human– AI Collaboration
Date: Thursday October 15, 2026 6:30 - 8:30 PM, at ITRI 2880 Zanker Suite 103. Seminar talk will start at 7PM.
“Intelligence, Wisdom, and Artificial Intelligence: From Human Capability to Human– AI Collaboration” By Dr. William Kao
Abstract: Artificial Intelligence has made remarkable progress in its ability to learn, reason, generate, predict, and solve increasingly complex problems. Yet intelligence and wisdom are not the same
This talk begins by examining human intelligence and human wisdom, exploring their characteristics and the fundamental differences between them. It then compares human intelligence with artificial intelligence, highlighting the strengths, limitations, and fundamentally different ways in which humans and AI perceive, learn, reason, and make decisions.
The discussion then addresses a more challenging question: Will there be Artificial Wisdom? As AI systems become more autonomous, adaptive, and capable of reasoning and decision-making, could they develop characteristics that resemble wisdom? Or will wisdom remain fundamentally connected to human experience, consciousness, values, emotions, and moral responsibility? The talk considers both the technological possibilities and philosophical limitations of creating artificial wisdom.
Rather than viewing humans and AI as competitors, the talk proposes a potentially more powerful model: Human Intelligence + Human Wisdom +Artificial Intelligence. Humans contribute wisdom, values, creativity, empathy, experience, and ethical judgment, while AI contributes computational power, vast knowledge, pattern recognition, speed, scalability, and analytical capabilities. Together, they can create a form of augmented intelligence in which AI extends human intelligence while humans provide direction, judgment, and wisdom.
The talk concludes with key takeaways on the complementary relationship between intelligence and wisdom and the emerging role of AI in human decision-making. The central message is that the ultimate goal should not simply be to create more intelligent machines, but to build a future in which human wisdom and artificial intelligence work together to produce better decisions, better solutions, and better outcomes for society.