Brainwaves: Is AI actually thinking?
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The rate at which artificial intelligence is able to replicate human behavior has increased in recent years. Does that mean it's thinking like us?
In the third episode of "Brainwaves," what artificial intelligence teaches us about our own capacity for thought.
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Transcript
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| 0:36.6 | the episode. |
| 0:41.8 | WBUR Podcasts, Boston. |
| 0:55.7 | This is on point. I'm Magnet Chakra-Bardi, and we are at episode three of brainwaves, our special week, taking a look at the human brain. |
| 1:01.5 | So today we're going to talk about what is human thinking? |
| 1:04.0 | When your brain is thinking, what is it actually doing? |
| 1:08.7 | And then does AI actually think? |
| 1:14.1 | How does AI help us learn how humans think? Now, this is different from yesterday when we talked about consciousness. Today we're talking about thinking and we'll discuss the |
| 1:18.4 | difference between the two a little bit later. But first, we asked you, our on-point listeners, |
| 1:24.2 | what would AI have to do to convince you that it's thinking like humans think? |
| 1:31.2 | Got a lot of responses. |
| 1:32.7 | But this one from Bill Lester of Pickwa, Ohio, really caught our attention because he said his metric for AI achieving actual thought might be determined by the 1966 science fiction novel, The Moon is a harsh |
| 1:47.4 | mistress. And Bill, thank you so much for not mentioning Hal and his revolt against |
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