I attended TechDay at FGV, an event promoted by Professor Eduardo de Rezende Francisco. It was an excellent opportunity to reflect on artificial intelligence through different prisms — from the technical to the philosophical. After all, it is a technology that deeply challenges how we identify ourselves as human beings, as it begins to perform tasks historically attributed exclusively to people. Based on what I heard, I share some reflections:
I acknowledge that the speed of change brings uncertainties and, naturally, fears. Human evolution has not prepared us for such abrupt transformations. Just consider that the agricultural revolution took millennia to consolidate, and even today we feel its effects — such as a sedentary lifestyle — because our bodies were shaped for constant movement and dietary diversity. Now imagine a revolution that changes everything in a matter of months, like AI.
In my view, the best way to handle this transformation is to understand what does not change. And for that, we need to understand AI from the inside — its fundamentals and limitations — to ride this era like surfers on a wave, not like castaways being dragged by it.
But after all, what is AI on the inside? Simply put, it is software capable of recognizing patterns with a much lower development cost and far greater flexibility than previous generations. Another way to see it is to think of AI as a “super information search engine”: a type of “multimedia Google” that is more powerful, yet devoid of critical judgment.
From this perspective, I reach a conclusion: AI will not replace human beings as long as it remains just a machine. And I believe this will remain so for many decades, as attributing agency and rights to machines requires that we first define what consciousness is — an extremely complex debate. The most valuable human skill continues to be the ability to exercise critical judgment regarding the impact of their decisions on others and the world. It is the famous trolley dilemma: there is no right or wrong answer — and this is something we quickly learn upon entering adulthood.
Therefore, if we think of AI as a powerful search and contextual analysis tool, it can help us make much better decisions. By drastically reducing the cost of accessing relevant information, it frees our time to dedicate ourselves to more human activities. And for me, that is the true role of technology: to make us more human — not the other way around.
As Professor Pedro Santi said in “Panel 3 - Everyday Life: AI on the streets, in homes, and in pockets: what now?”, we can identify if we are enslaved by a technology when we are able to detach ourselves from it, even temporarily. And I add: if you can be more human using AI, then you are on the right track.
