AI Has No Body

What embodiment means in a world of artificial intelligence

~30 min talk + Q&A

AI can predict, generate language, recognise patterns, and increasingly perform tasks we associate with intelligence.

And neuroscience tells us something strange: in some respects, our own brains work through prediction too. We don't simply perceive the world; we continuously generate predictions and update our prediction models as reality pushes back.

What, then, is actually distinctive about being human?

I want to explore a possible answer through embodiment. Our intelligence doesn't happen in isolation from the body. Attention, mood, cognition, energy and decision-making are continuously informed by signals from inside us: our nervous system, hormones, metabolism, energy availability, physiological state. And unlike an AI system, we don't simply process information about the world. We have to live in it, as bodies, systems within a larger system, with needs and limits: hunger, fatigue, pleasure, stress, vulnerability.