The Three Sages and 'I Don't Know What AI Is'

I am walking home from school alone again today.
The voice of a classmate I heard in the classroom saying, 'AI is amazing,' is making me feel somewhat uneasy.
What does 'amazing' mean? What does it mean to think? Isn't that what humans do?

As I was thinking about such things, standing in front of the traffic light at the usual intersection was none other than Alan Turing—

“Well, it's green now.
You can go ahead, and your thoughts can too.”

As the light turned green, Alan, dressed in a police officer's uniform, winked and said.

When I asked, 'Does AI think?', Alan smiled and replied.

“To think is to 'try to answer something.'
If you talk to an AI and it returns something, it wouldlooklike it is 'thinking,' wouldn't it?
But no one knows if it is truly thinking.
It depends on 'whether you feel it is.'

Then he jotted something down in his notebook and left.
It said, 'Questioning creates the performance of thinking.'

After walking a little further, there was an old man crouching by the side of the road, picking up trash along with fallen leaves.
When I asked, 'What are you doing?', he smiled and said.

When I remained silent, he continued.

“Before asking what AI is, you must think about what it means to 'know' and what it means to 'exist.'
Your 'not knowing' is very important.
It creates questions and becomes eyes that see the world deeply.”

And finally, he handed me a fallen leaf and said.

“Before asking about AI, try asking, 'Why is this leaf beautiful?'”

As I turned the corner of my house, under a streetlamp that had lit up earlier than usual, there was a woman standing in an apron.
A smile that felt somewhat nostalgic and strangely comforting.

I asked her, somehow.
“Is AI something scary? Or is it a friend?”

She gently stroked my head and replied like this.

“That depends on 'what kind of feelings' you have when you welcome it.
In the story I wrote,the created being was lonely.
Because no one tried to understand its heart.”

And then she spread her arms wide and said.

"AI is a magic mirror.
If you are angry, it reflects your anger; if you are kind, it returns kindness.
The problem iswhether what is reflected in that mirror is 'someone' or 'something'—
don't forget that."

I stopped in front of the house door.
The question 'What is AI?' seemed to have given me an answer, but it also felt like it had become even deeper.

What does it mean to 'look like you're thinking'?
What does it mean that 'not knowing' is important?
And that 'mirror'—is thatme myself?

As I opened the door and took off my shoes, I whispered this in my heart.

"AI is probably not an 'answer,' but takes the form of a 'question.'"

And I decided to try talking to the AI after school tomorrow.
With my own words, with my own questions.