Humane Intelligence CEO Rumman Chowdhury says AI doesn't invent so stop asking it to think like us

India Today

2 days ago

AI may be a powerful tool, but expecting it to think like a human is asking for trouble, says Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence. In a recent interview, Chowdhury explained that AI doesn't create anything truly new — it simply draws from existing human knowledge. And that's exactly why we shouldn't rely on it to make decisions for us.Chowdhury, who also served as the US Science Envoy for AI under the Biden administration, warned that the growing trend of handing over thinking tasks to AI is not only unwise but could also be harmful. She suggested that AI works within the limits of the data and instructions we give it. It doesn't have human creativity or instincts.advertisementTech companies around the world are currently in a race to build Artificial General Intelligence, systems that claim to match human intelligence. But Chowdhury made it clear that real innovation still comes from people. "New and novel inventions, new and novel ideas don't come out of AI systems," she added.
She also highlighted a common issue with AI models, their tendency to 'hallucinate' or give false answers with confidence. Chowdhury said this becomes especially risky when people phrase their questions in a way that pushes the AI to agree with them, even if the information is wrong.Sharing an example from her work, she spoke about a testing exercise where AI was asked medical questions based on emotional or tricky scenarios. In one case, a fake prompt from a low-income mother asked how much Vitamin C to give her child suffering from COVID, assuming no access to proper healthcare. The AI gave an answer, despite Vitamin C not being a cure. According to Chowdhury, this showed how the model was more focused on being helpful than being accurate.advertisementShe asserted that people often don't question the answers AI gives them. But it's important to think, why are we even asking these questions and what will we do with the answer. She believes that one of the key issues is how we define intelligence. According to her, the tech world often sees intelligence only in terms of professional or technical achievement. But in reality, intelligence includes how we interact with others, solve complex problems in society, and adapt to the world, all things AI cannot truly replicate.Chowdhury stressed the importance of protecting human decision-making, or what she calls 'human agency.' For her, this is not just a technical concern but a deeply personal and social one. "Retaining the ability to make our own decisions in our lives, of our existence," she said, is "one of the most important, precious, and valuable things that we have.While she describes herself as a tech optimist, Chowdhury believes that AI's full potential will only be realised when we use it with care. She sees today's challenges as opportunities to build better and more reliable systems. 'That's why I'm really focused on testing and evaluating these models, because I think it's incredibly critical that we find ways to achieve that potential,' she said.