[mjburgess]

Sure, I mean I only explained my view so that the question would be taken seriously. For me the question is the reason I commented.

I think I answered it myself... I have been seeing people's fervour to attribute intelligence to AI as either charlatanism or misunderstanding... but I think, now, it's actually wishful thinking (and hence essentially religious).

Trading in the usual superstitious foundations of religions: "AI works in mysterious ways", "correlations in symbols are meaningful", etc.

I still don't know why people wish that AI were intelligent; but at least now I have a clearer sense of it. There's some utopian faith behind it which creates this odd urgency to "require" machines to really be intelligent. I'd be interested in knowing why this wish exists.

I can never quite put my finger on how irreligious tech people end up in these tech religions. I guess there's some attachment to there being "a heaven somewhere", which with tech, will be heaven-on-earth.

[anon2020dot00]

I don't think it is important that AI is intelligent what is more important is that it is useful and that it solves problems. AI Intelligence would just be a means towards that goal.

As human beings, we slowly evolve from one generation to the next but our tools can evolve much more quickly and it can give us in a sense, superpowers. Cars were invented and allowed us to travel great distances while Self-Driving cars (which will require some sort of AI) will reduce car accidents and provide mobility for everyone.

AI has the potential to greatly improve the lives of a vast number of people and so it might be looked-upon as some sort of "saviour" and that has some religious connotations but most people still would treat it as just a tool but possibly a life-changing one.