Other Intelligence: What Is Changing?

Kohler’s phrase invites a serious question about AI while leaving the scientific and philosophical answers open.

The paired portraits and credits appear on the series home. This is Martin’s independent commentary on Kohler’s published work. Alan Kohler has not reviewed or endorsed it.

Kohler’s documented work

What he has argued

In October 2026, Kohler explored whether “other intelligence” better describes AI than “artificial intelligence”. He considered the possibility that non-biological systems could be understood as a new kind of life and focused on the arrival of autonomous agents. This is an exploratory argument about how people might interpret a major technological change; it is not evidence that current AI systems are conscious, biologically alive or equivalent to people.

Martin’s response

Where I agree, and where I go further

I am interested in the same boundary questions, but I want to keep categories clear. Intelligence, agency, life and subjective experience are different claims. We can study what a system does and how it affects people without pretending that a metaphor settles what it is. Kohler’s framing makes room for a conversation rather than closing it with a label.

Open question

What I still want to understand

What evidence would justify moving from “a system that performs intelligent tasks” to stronger claims about life or experience? And what public responsibilities arise even before those questions are answered?

Research trail

Sources

Published 18 October 2026 · Commentary by Martin Davies-Roundhill · Contact End Up Here