Human-AI Symbiosis: Is It Possible?
Is a Symbiosis Between Humans and Artificial Intelligence Possible?
During the Employers of Tomorrow Gala organized on December 12 by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, we discussed artificial intelligence and its impact on the labor market. The topic of AI is a fantastic change of pace from my daily work on the ATS system Element. During the panel discussion, I was asked whether a symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence is possible. The answer to this question reaches far into the future and borders on science fiction — the further ahead you look, the more fictional it becomes. If you enjoy journeys into the future, I invite you to explore my answer to this very question.
Symbiosis and Its Evolution
According to Wikipedia, symbiosis is defined as:
A close and prolonged interaction between two or more biological species that benefits each party (mutualism) or one party without harming the other (commensalism).
The symbiosis between humans and technology — understood here in a broad, metaphorical sense — has been evolving since the creation of the very first tools.
An early example of this symbiosis is the stick, which prehistoric humans, and even primates, used for fighting or knocking fruit from trees. It is just as important an example of the coexistence of technology and life as a modern person holding a phone, talking to another human being — or to ChatGPT.
The symbiosis between humans and technology takes many forms. Today, it manifests through artificial joint implants, correcting vision with glasses, exposing the body to UV radiation or X-rays for medical imaging, relying on GPS navigation voices, and using medications developed through advanced pharmaceutical technology.
How to Create a Symbiosis With Artificial Intelligence?
The development of symbiosis with artificial intelligence follows a path analogous to how our collaboration with other technologies has evolved — gradually. Currently, we can communicate with AI through text, speech, and images. This communication is mediated by an interface accessible via a website or a mobile application.
The natural follow-up question is: What will be the next significant step toward full symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence? And what does it actually mean to achieve full symbiosis with AI?
The Data Bandwidth Problem
In the realm of computers and artificial intelligence, we observe impressive processing speeds and access to vast datasets. The memory of modern home computers significantly exceeds human capacity for memorization, enabling the storage and rapid processing of enormous amounts of information. Computers can effortlessly accumulate encyclopedic bodies of knowledge, making them available to the user in a fraction of a second. Likewise, artificial intelligence — for example, in the form of ChatGPT — has instant access not only to encyclopedic knowledge but also to a broad spectrum of other datasets, encompassing a significant portion of the internet. Thanks to its ability to browse the web, AI has access — albeit still with slight delays — to current information available online. This is a level of processing and information access that surpasses the capabilities of even the most brilliant human minds.
It is precisely the speed of human access to AI-processed information that represents the bottleneck — the main obstacle on the path to full symbiosis. By the time a person formulates a question for the machine, receives the answer, and then processes it, seconds have elapsed. Time measured in seconds is too long to speak of a full symbiosis between an organic brain and an artificial one.
The Evolution of Information Access and the Exponential Pace of Technological Development
Imagine a future in which traditional phone and computer screens are replaced by advanced technologies, such as AR (augmented reality) glasses or even direct retinal projections. Going further, imagine that information is transmitted from external devices straight into our brains — for instance, through implanted chips (Elon Musk is working on brain-implantable chips — Neuralink) or through electromagnetic field interactions between devices and the brain. In this scenario, we could experience text, images, and sound directly in our minds.
This kind of communication would accelerate access to external data resources. Initially, the limiting factor might be the speed at which an external system generates information. Today, we also have to wait a few seconds for ChatGPT’s responses. However, given the exponential pace of technological development, we can assume that this limitation will soon disappear. If you need a refresher on how exponential growth works, this resource provides a very good, simple explanation that truly sparks the imagination.
Breaking Through Information Transmission Barriers
When our connection to machines involves bypassing our natural senses and sending signals directly to the appropriate regions of the brain, the speed of this transmission could match — and eventually perhaps surpass — that of using traditional senses. It would be faster because querying the machine would then be generated purely by thought, rather than through the currently available sequence of thought followed by voice or keyboard input.
This would be a step toward telepathy — communication through thought. Yet at this stage, although the speed of information access would increase, we would not yet achieve instantaneous access to the full potential of computers or artificial neural networks. Requesting information would still require formulating a query in one’s mind and waiting for a response.
As technology advances (exponential progress, remember?), the data bandwidth between external devices and our brains will continue to grow. Ultimately, information from external resources will appear in our minds as quickly as memories or thoughts that naturally arise within it today. In such a state, the boundary between human memory and information delivered by AI will become blurred.
A Vision of Full Human-AI Symbiosis
In a state of full symbiosis, harnessing the full potential of AI, we would be able to tap into artificial intelligence just as quickly as we access our own memories. Retrieving information from AI would be instantaneous. Reaching for AI-generated results of a global employment data analysis would be as fast — and even as unconscious — as reaching for a cup of coffee today. Any piece of information that AI can generate would appear at the brain’s command just as quickly and naturally as my own name appears when I think of it.
In such a world, our thoughts and the thoughts of artificial intelligence would interpenetrate, becoming available at the same speed and with the same ease. It would be an era in which the human mind and artificial intelligence coexist, creating an extraordinarily advanced form of collaboration and interaction.
Perhaps it is precisely this kind of full symbiosis that could protect humanity from the risk of technological singularity — a state in which technology becomes so advanced that humans can no longer understand it or predict its development. Could this be the only path for humanity to avoid being pushed to the evolutionary margins by AI?
How Distant Is This Vision, and What Additional Consequences Might It Bring?
Although I have twice mentioned the exponential pace of technological development, it still seems that a long road lies ahead before such a close collaboration between humans and AI becomes reality.
At present, the previously mentioned Neuralink is only beginning to test chips that would allow humans to communicate with electronic devices using simple signals. We still do not understand the majority of processes occurring in the brain. We do not know how or why specific thoughts and reactions arise in our minds, or why we remember some information better than others. Moreover, research in this area progresses relatively slowly. I believe it will be artificial intelligence itself that opens the door to a fuller understanding of the brain and, consequently, to a symbiosis between biological life and machines.
For now, we must content ourselves with typing on keyboards, speaking, and listening. Yet it seems that after several million years of evolution, we are slowly approaching the moment of the next pivotal stage in this process — a moment when life begins to take on a higher form: a silicon-based form, resistant to biological disease and natural death. Just as humanity realized the dream of traveling to the stars, will it also realize the dream of eternal life? And if so, could that life still be called human?
I don’t think so.
On the other hand, I am not sure what benefits AI itself would ultimately derive from this symbiosis. If none, then according to the definition cited at the beginning of this article, it would likely be a variety of symbiosis known as commensalism.
Is Using AI to Formulate Your Own Statements Wrong?
Recently on LinkedIn, I came across a post in which the author takes a critical stance on using ChatGPT as a prompter. This topic is closely related to the subject of human-AI symbiosis. I will address this issue in a separate article, most likely next week.
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Maciej Michalewski
CEO @ Element. Recruitment Automation Software
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