Why today’s AI isn’t intelligent (yet)

What Robbie the Robot teaches us about AI, elegance, and emerging tech.

David Both, Linux enthusiast and author, sat down with the All Things Open team to share his thoughts on what artificial intelligence means, why beauty matters in technology, and how sodium ion batteries might change everything.

David’s journey with computers started in 1969, and he’s been working with Linux and open source since 1996. After reading influential books like Mike Gancarz’s “Linux and the Unix Philosophy” and Eric Raymond’s “The Art of Unix Programming,” David realized system administrators needed their own philosophy. Those books were written for developers, but the lessons his mentors taught him as he worked his way through the Linux ranks deserved a home too. That realization led to “The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins,” a book that came together after a chance meeting with an APress editor at All Things Open in 2017.

When asked about AI, David was direct: There’s no such thing as AI yet. What we call AI today is really good programming, but it lacks soul, creativity, and the ability to make ethical decisions. His standard for true artificial intelligence? Robbie the Robot from the 1956 film “Forbidden Planet.” Robbie could speak multiple languages, make crucial ethical decisions, and act with intention. That’s the bar, David says, and we’re not there yet. What exists now is overly complex, not beautiful, and if you can’t understand it, you can’t fix it.

Outside of AI, David is watching battery technology closely. He highlights sodium ion batteries as a game changer for electric vehicles and beyond. Unlike lithium, sodium is abundant and widely available, which means no country can control supply for political leverage. David believes sodium ion batteries will offer greater energy density than lithium ion, lower costs, and broader viability across environments. It’s not just about EVs being full of computers, it’s about the power source that makes them work. 

Design matters, he says. When hardware or software flows with elegance and purpose, you can see it. That beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity, a quote he borrows from computer science professor David Gelernter’s book “Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology.”

Key takeaways

• True AI requires ethics and creativity: Good programming isn’t intelligence. Real AI, like Robbie the Robot, makes ethical decisions and acts with intention.
• Sodium ion batteries could reshape energy: Abundant, affordable, and powerful, sodium offers a path beyond lithium’s limitations.
• Beauty fights complexity: Elegant design makes technology understandable and fixable. If it’s too complex to grasp, it’s too complex to trust.

David’s advice for the community is simple: Have fun. Enjoy the beauty in what you build. When technology is elegant, it’s not just functional, it’s something you can understand, fix, and trust. That’s where the real progress happens.

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