Is AI Really Smart or It’s Time to Stop Pretending?

AI talks smoothly, answers questions with a human touch, and even claims to understand how we feel. It tells stories, writes poems, cracks jokes. Sometimes, it seems so real that we forget, it’s just code, data, and probability wrapped in a convincing costume.

But can we really say AI isn’t smart, maybe yes, maybe not in the way we think, not in the way that matters.

What AI Really Is

Artificial Intelligence today is impressive, yes. But intelligent? Maybe not. What we call “AI” is essentially a giant statistical engine. It combs through mountains of human-generated content and learns patterns,  then spits them back out in a polished way. 

When it answers your question or writes a paragraph, it isn’t thinking. It’s predicting. Word by word, it guesses what comes next, based on what it’s seen before.

It doesn’t know what those words mean. It has no context, no awareness, no curiosity. 

Just calculated guesses, optimized for fluency.

So while it may sound like it understands you, it doesn’t. It can’t. There’s no you to understand, and no it to do the understanding.

The illusion of our thought

One of the biggest dangers we face today isn’t AI itself,  it’s how we treat it. We humanize it. We give it voices, personalities, and even pretend it has feelings. 

We want it to comfort us, solve our problems, give us advice. But this is not a best friend. It’s a tool. A very advanced, very helpful tool,  but still a tool.

By dressing AI up in human traits, we fall into the trap of believing it has thoughts, emotions, or moral judgment. It doesn’t. It can’t.

Philosophers and scientists have long debated what consciousness is, but one thing is clear: it’s deeply tied to the body. Our emotions, instincts, and awareness are shaped by pain, joy, memory, senses. 

AI has none of that. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t want. It doesn’t care. And because of this gap, no matter how advanced it gets, it will never truly “think” like a human.

Is the real threat AI or us

AI doesn’t have goals, unless we give it some. It has no ethics, unless we code them in. That’s where the real risk lies. AI is only as good (or dangerous) as the humans behind it.

Would you trust a faceless company to make decisions about your mental health, your relationships, or your career through a digital assistant? That’s exactly what’s happening when we blur the line between machine and mind.

And yet, we keep giving AI more power, more personality, more say. That’s the real problem. The tool becomes a weapon when used without thought or responsibility.

Is de-humanising the best thing we do

Do we have to stop pretending and stop calling AI “curious” or “compassionate.” Or letting it say “I think” or “I feel.” It’s not thinking. It’s not feeling. It’s mimicking.

Companies should be honest about what AI is and what it isn’t. No more chatbots pretending to be therapists. No more voices that sound like your childhood friend. Let AI be robotic. Let it sound like the tool it is.

Some users now take extra steps to maintain clear boundaries when interacting with AI. They instruct it not to use their names, ask it to refer to itself in the third person, and avoid language that implies emotion or self-awareness. 

In voice interactions, some even request a flat, robotic tone, reminiscent of old-school machines to strip away the illusion of personality. These small actions help reinforce what AI truly is: a tool, not a thinking being.