Human intelligence in the context of AI

Humans, scientifically known as Homo sapiens, are primates that belong to the biological family of great apes and are characterized by hairlessness, bipedality, and high intelligence. Humans have large brains compared to body size, enabling more advanced cognitive skills that facilitate successful adaptation to varied environments, development of sophisticated tools, and formation of complex social structures and civilizations.

Humans are highly social, with individual humans tending to belong to a multi-layered network of distinct social groups – from families and peer groups to corporations and political states. As such, social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, languages, and traditions (collectively termed institutions), each of which bolsters human society. Humans are also highly curious: the desire to understand and influence phenomena has motivated humanity's development of science, technology, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other frameworks of knowledge; humans also study themselves through such domains as anthropology, social science, history, psychology, and medicine. As of 2025, there are estimated to be more than 8 billion living humans.

An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's estimated mental age, obtained by administering an intelligence test, by the person's chronological age. The resulting fraction (quotient) was multiplied by 100 to obtain the IQ score. For modern IQ tests, the raw score is transformed to a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. This results in approximately two-thirds of the population scoring between IQ 85 and IQ 115 and about 2 percent each above 130 and below 70.

Scores from intelligence tests are estimates of intelligence. Unlike quantities such as distance and mass, a concrete measure of intelligence cannot be achieved given the abstract nature of the concept of "intelligence". IQ scores have been shown to be associated with factors such as nutrition, parental socioeconomic status, morbidity and mortality, parental social status, and perinatal environment. While the heritability of IQ has been studied for nearly a century, there is still debate over the significance of heritability estimates and the mechanisms of inheritance. The best estimates for heritability range from 40 to 60% of the variance between individuals in IQ being explained by genetics.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to perceive their environment and use learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined goals.

High-profile applications of AI include advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search); recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix); virtual assistants (e.g., Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa); autonomous vehicles (e.g., Waymo); generative and creative tools (e.g., language models and AI art); and superhuman play and analysis in strategy games (e.g., chess and Go). However, many AI applications are not perceived as AI: "A lot of cutting edge AI has filtered into general applications, often without being called AI because once something becomes useful enough and common enough it's not labeled AI anymore."

The Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program (MICECP) is a Department of the Army Headquarters career management program administered by the US Army Field Support Center of the US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). The Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program is tasked with recruiting, training and developing a dedicated civilian intelligence workforce to conduct sensitive intelligence and counterintelligence operations missions worldwide. The program operates from Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.

Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program members, are actively recruited, trained, and assigned to conduct highly specialized operational intelligence functions within the Army, as Intelligence Operations Specialists. Members must agree to a mobility agreement and be willing to be assigned and reassigned according to the needs of the program. Positions filled by MICECP employees may require competency in any one or more of the following fields: Foreign Counterintelligence, counterintelligence investigations, collection, analysis, production, force protection, target exploitation (TAREX), human intelligence (HUMINT) operations, counterintelligence force protection source operations (CFSO), liaison, intelligence support, staff management, technical intelligence disciplines, support to special mission units/special operations forces (SMU/SOF), foreign languages, technology protection, and advice and assistance.

IQ classification is the practice of categorizing human intelligence, as measured by intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, into categories such as "superior" and "average".

With the usual IQ scoring methods, an IQ score of 100 means that the test-taker's performance on the test is of average performance in the sample of test-takers of about the same age as was used to norm the test. An IQ score of 115 means performance one standard deviation above the mean, while a score of 85 means performance one standard deviation below the mean, and so on. This "deviation IQ" method is used for standard scoring of all IQ tests in large part because they allow a consistent definition of IQ for both children and adults. By the existing "deviation IQ" definition of IQ test standard scores, about two-thirds of all test-takers obtain scores from 85 to 115, and about 5 percent of the population scores above 125 (i.e. normal distribution).

A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes solely so, but most modern beauty pageants have since expanded to also judge contestants based on "inner beauty"—their individual traits and characteristics, including personality, intelligence, aptitude, moral character, and charity. Though typically perceived as a female-oriented competition, male beauty pageants also exist, as do child beauty pageants for youth.

The term beauty pageant refers originally to the Big Four beauty pageants: Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth. Thousands of beauty contests are held annually, but the Big Four are considered the most prestigious, and are widely covered and broadcast by news media. The earliest formal beauty pageants were held in the 19th century, although similar informal events date back to at least the post-classical period. Modern beauty pageants were first established in the early 20th century, with their popularity later boosted by the establishment of international pageants in the mid-20th century. Reforms of pageants in the 21st century marked a shift from primarily focusing on physical appearance to placing more weight on other characteristics.

A superintelligence is a hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence surpassing that of the most gifted human minds. Philosopher Nick Bostrom defines superintelligence as "any intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest".

Technological researchers disagree about how likely present-day human intelligence is to be surpassed. Some argue that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will probably result in general reasoning systems that lack human cognitive limitations. Others believe that humans will evolve or directly modify their biology to achieve radically greater intelligence. Several future study scenarios combine elements from both of these possibilities, suggesting that humans are likely to interface with computers, or upload their minds to computers, in a way that enables substantial intelligence amplification. The hypothetical creation of the first superintelligence may or may not result from an intelligence explosion or a technological singularity.

Non-human (also spelled nonhuman) is any entity displaying some, but not enough, human characteristics to be considered a human. The term has been used in a variety of contexts and may refer to objects that have been developed with human intelligence, such as robots or vehicles.

Existential risk from artificial intelligence, or AI x-risk, refers to the idea that substantial progress in artificial general intelligence (AGI) could lead to human extinction or an irreversible global catastrophe.

One argument for the validity of this concern and the importance of this risk references how human beings dominate other species because the human brain possesses distinctive capabilities other animals lack. If AI were to surpass human intelligence and become superintelligent, it might become uncontrollable. Just as the fate of the mountain gorilla depends on human goodwill, the fate of humanity could depend on the actions of a future machine superintelligence.