AI models should incorporate 'alien' forms of intelligence beyond human-generated text and images — specifically the chemical language used by the 99% of species (bacteria, fungi, plants, insects) that can only communicate through molecules — by training systems directly on that chemistry, echoing Terry Tao's call for a 'Copernican view of intelligence' that stops centering human cognition.
Alex argues AI should move beyond a human-centric view and incorporate 'alien' intelligences like the chemical communication used by most species on Earth, echoing mathematician Terry Tao's call for a 'Copernican view of intelligence.'
transcript
Alex Wiltschko: 99% of species on this planet can only speak with chemistry, right? Thinking of bacteria and fungi and plants and insects, they just only can talk with molecules. And I think that it's really worth adding other kinds of alien forms of intelligence to our AI models. And the way to do that is to train it on the intellectual output of those other intellects, which is chemistry.