Nature already shows us that intelligence is not exclusive to human brains. It’s not just big-brained mammals, either. Portia spiders carefully plan their attacks; octopuses solve puzzles with distributed intelligence in their arms; and now, AI models learn, predict, and reason.

A French translation of this interview is now available in @lechobe.bsky.social: bit.ly/3Zu0Zg3

We’ve been preparing for AI as an Oracle—one brain that answers our questions. But what if intelligence emerges from interaction? What if the Singularity isn’t so singular?

Intelligence isn’t magic, but rather the ability to understand and shape the future in a complex environment. AI can do both. In a recent interview with @elpais.com, I explain why generalization is more important than memorization when defining intelligence.

"A bold exploration of life and intelligence that transcends traditional beliefs. Agüera y Arcas illuminates our new computational companions from many directions." — Terrence Sejnowski Learn more about "What Is Intelligence?" by @blaiseaguera.bsky.social: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204995... #CompSci

What if technology is a natural part of the evolutionary story of life on Earth? I recently had a great discussion on this with @tijd.be, Belgium’s leading business daily. 📷: Antoine Doyen.

Here are a few books I enjoyed this month 🧵

In this new paper, Gary Lupyan and I address ongoing controversies regarding how to best think of what LLMs are doing: are they a language mimic, a database, a blurry version of the Web? arxiv.org/abs/2601.11432

Is AI pretending to be intelligent, or is it really? @blaiseaguera.bsky.social #Technology #Books Researcher and CTO at Google, Blaise Agüera y Arcas, argues that AI's intelligence lies in its ability to make predictions. Read the full article: bigthink.com/books/blaise...

Last year, I had the honor of sitting down with @meckdevil.bsky.social from the @thebulletin.org to discuss evolution’s overlooked forces. (Photo by Jean Lachat)

Thank you Vishal Mathur for choosing “What Is Intelligence?” as your favorite read from 2025! I really enjoyed our conversation for @hindustan-times.bsky.social last October on how prediction is fundamental to intelligence.

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel with Refik Anadol, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, @paglen.studio, and Michael Joo at the opening of Gradient Canvas—a Google exhibition of newly commissioned artworks exploring co-existing intelligences between people, machines, and nature.

My good friend, @mudede.bsky.social, thank you for this lovely review of “What Is Intelligence?” in @thestranger.com. Always enjoy reading your reflections grounded in personal history—from your early years in the U.S. to your Sundays with Sagan in Zimbabwe.

As someone who reads lots of books of many genres, I can be selective about which ones I recommend. Here are 4 that stood out to me this month ⬇️

Since “What Is Intelligence?” (@mitpress.bsky.social & Antikythera) came out in September, I’ve had the privilege of hearing so many perceptive reflections on the nature of life and intelligence from readers.

An individual urbanite is unlikely to know how to hunt game or crack open a coconut. But collectively, humanity has become something no individual could ever be—superintelligent.

My team and I just published a new framework for AI social intelligence. By grasping self-other similarity and predicting how their actions affect others, models are encouraged to cooperate—solving the Prisoner’s Dilemma. More on Embedded Universal Predictive Intelligence (MUPI) ⬇

If animals think instinctively and humans reason logically, how did we evolve to gain this capacity? French cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber called this evolutionary puzzle "the enigma of reason."

Intelligence isn't simply about value maximization, or optimizing without regard for how it’s done. Human intelligence doesn't work that way—and neither does AI. In a recent interview in @bigthink.com, I explain why.

Know someone interested in AI, evolution, and neuroscience? My book “What Is Intelligence?” (@mitpress.bsky.social & Antikythera) is on sale for the holidays—15% off through 12/15. Use code MITP15: bit.ly/4pTVv9t

I’m excited to announce that my new book, “What Is Intelligence?” (@mitpress.bsky.social & Antikythera), is now available as an audiobook, narrated by me! bit.ly/48k8z2f

If you define life by its function—rather than what it’s made of—where does “function” come from? Grateful for the chance to explore this million dollar question with Julien Crockett in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, and to share more about the artificial life experiments from my Pi team.

A great point Alok Jha raised in our conversation on @economist.com’s Babbage podcast: humans can’t survive alone. We're part of larger systems that look after public and environmental health, food, water, information media, and so much else.

The advent of AI might just be the latest stage of a biological process that has produced ever more complex, mutually interdependent entities over evolutionary time. Thank you @nature.com for publishing my perspective on this: bit.ly/3JUC3uc

Honored to contribute to “Machine Decision Is Not Final,” a fascinating collection of global (and especially Chinese) perspectives on the future of AI. In my chapter, “The Mother of Ten Thousand Things,” I explore perception and collective creativity.

Thank you Arnaud Leparmentier for the great interview in @lemonde.fr, and for the chance to share why cooperation is just as crucial—if not more so—than competition in evolution. The interview is now available in French: bit.ly/3JZBCi8

Grateful to see my essay “Life, Intelligence, and Consciousness: A Functional Perspective” appear in @longnow.org’s annual journal, Pace Layers.

Really enjoyed my conversation with Dan Faggella on evolution's arrow of time. From bacteria to eukaryotes, solitary humans to societies—each transition creates something richer and more complex, even as its earlier forms persist.

Thank you @johnthornhill.bsky.social and the @financialtimes.com for the lovely and thoughtful review of “What Is Intelligence?”— and for engaging so deeply with the book’s central questions on life, intelligence, and human identity. Read the full review: bit.ly/4r0tYED

How the brain’s ability to model creates explosions in intelligence, from @blaiseaguera.bsky.social's Long Now Talk.

Seattle friends: Join me on Nov 18 at Town Hall @townhallseattle.bsky.social, where I’ll dive into the research breakthroughs that led to “What Is Intelligence?” (out from @mitpress.bsky.social & Antikythera). Would love to see you! I’ll stick around to sign books and chat.

11/18 at 7:30 PM | Author and AI researcher @blaiseaguera.bsky.social asks what intelligence really is, and how AI’s emergence is a natural consequence of evolution. 🎟️ Get tickets: buff.ly/n3UsUuk

Friends in Chicago: I hope you'll join me at @seminarycoopbooks.bsky.social bookstore on Nov 11 to explore the nature of life and intelligence. I'll share more about the story behind "What Is Intelligence?" (out via @mitpress.bsky.social & Antikythera), followed by a Q&A and book signing.

We’re proud to announce the 2025-26 Distinguished Speaker Series! Join us for stimulating talks from leading data science and AI researchers exploring and expanding fundamental methods and applications that transform large and complex datasets into knowledge and action 🧵(1/4)

Thank you Vishal Mathur for your thoughtful questions on AGI, creativity in the age of AI, and the results of testing LLMs for theory of mind. You can read excerpts of my interview in Vishal’s “Neural Dispatch” Substack and @hindustan-times.bsky.social: bit.ly/431DgGl

DNA sequences are computer code! It was a pleasure to explore John Von Neumann's theory on life as a form of computation and the lessons we can learn from modern AI systems with Tim Scarfe on Machine Learning Street Talk: bit.ly/4nreMO7 Thank you for the thoughtful questions!

The most momentous shift in our understanding of the universe arguably predated Copernicus. The breakthrough wasn't moving the origin of the coordinate system from the Earth to the Sun, but the radical 6th century BCE idea that Earth floats in space like other celestial bodies.

In a thoughtfully written essay for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, neuroscientist Patrick House weaves together a narrative of lyrebirds, alpine parrots, shyness, curiosity, the uniquely human activity of pointing a finger, and the scientific method.

What do we truly mean when we talk about agency and free will? And could AI models have these qualities? In my new book “What Is Intelligence?,” I offer a perspective on how building intelligent machines forces us to confront deep questions about consciousness and our own minds.

To answer to the question "what is intelligence?" @blaiseaguera.bsky.social connects the evolutionary dots between life, computation, and symbiogenesis in the latest Long Now Talk: youtu.be/KhSJuqDUJME?...

We can't fly to the moon or transplant organs alone. But when we work together, our intelligence achieves extraordinary breakthroughs. Grateful to Berkman Klein Center for hosting my conversation with Alex Pascal on the social nature of intelligence – and for the nice photos.

It was a pleasure to join my friend @bbratton.bsky.social of Antikythera as a guest on @drbriankeating.bsky.social’s podcast, Into The Impossible, to explore the computational nature of intelligence and life.

I hope one day more people will understand that AI’s early breakthroughs were deeply connected to neuroscience. It was a pleasure to discuss the history of AI and more on @closertotruth.bsky.social with Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

In 1981, my father brought home my first computer, a Texas Instruments 99/4A. He was convinced computing would change the world. As "What Is Intelligence?" arrives in bookstores today, I’m reminded of how right he was.

In "What Is Intelligence?", @blaiseaguera.bsky.social offers a radical new perspective on what intelligence really is, and how AI’s emergence is a natural consequence of evolution. Available #OpenAccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204995...

We're celebrating the release of "What Is Intelligence?" tomorrow at the MIT Press Bookstore! Stop by Kendall Square's underground bookstore for a book signing with author @blaiseaguera.bsky.social: mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/event/2025-0...

Everything alive is a computer—because the processes that enable life, at its core, are computational. This was a central point in my presentation and conversation with Benjamin Bratton at @longnow.org, where we challenged conventional notions about biological and artificial systems.

Great to see my friend and colleague Alex Mordvintsev's pioneering work on neural cellular automata recognized in Quanta Magazine. Special thanks to @georgemusser.com for the feature.

Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society hosts @blaiseaguera.bsky.social on Sept. 24th to discuss his new book, "What Is Intelligence?" Learn how the evolution of life and even the development of AI can be understood as stages in an ongoing process: computational symbiogenesis. Learn more & RSVP:

Do modern AI systems have a claim to intelligence? Join me for a conversation on this topic later today with Benjamin Bratton at @longnow.org.