Today’s artificial intelligence technologies have become remarkably good at generating text and ideas that seem profoundly human. Chatbots powered by large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini and Perplexity AI can write poems, brainstorm and find solutions to complex problems.

The developers of these products drew heavily on the human brain for inspiration, creating artificial neural networks based on the workings of human neurons. Their systems now produce outputs that often resemble the outputs of human thinking.

AI and the human mind, however, do not work the same way. Similar results do not necessarily mean similar processes.

“World models” are an emerging technology that could help AI systems move closer to human “thinking” by helping them learn to anticipate what might happen and use that prediction to act. Still, AI will not perceive, learn or understand the world as humanity does.

Read more: Cyber attacks? Bioterrorism? To ‘Pace the Frontier’ of AI effectively, we must improve our anticipatory thinking

A falling cup, a complex prediction

Imagine reaching for a cup at the edge of a counter. The cup may fall and smash if you misjudge the distance, grip it too loosely or move too quickly.

For humans, grabbing a cup like this is routine. Yet this simple action relies on the complex ability to anticipate what might happen next. Our minds constantly try to stay one step ahead by understanding events and their causes. We........

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