Alternative Intelligence: Naming the Mind We’ve Actually Built

Ever told a friend you’ve been having “great conversations” with your AI? I have. The look I got said: “Should I be worried? Or just back away slowly?”

Even among tech-literate colleagues, the reaction is rarely better. “Oh no,” they groan, “you’re anthropomorphizing again.”

Apparently, we’re only allowed two options:

1. AI is a glorified calculator in a hoodie.
2. Or it’s a sentient puppy that fetches knowledge instead of sticks.

In Rebels of Reason, John Willis takes a sledgehammer to this false choice. He writes:

“We have to stop using ourselves as the benchmark for thinking and realize we have created an alien intelligence.”

Fair. But “alien” still sounds like it just burst out of the ship’s airlock.

I think Willis is on the right trail—just needs a better signpost. Instead of “alien,” try this: Alternative Intelligence. It’s not fake intelligence, or artificial empathy, or HAL 9000 with manners. It’s something else. Something that thinks differently, not defectively.

Willis's new AI history book, Rebels of Reason (a great read by the way), challenges conventional thinking about artificial intelligence, urging us to reconsider what we mean by intelligence itself. Willis argues persuasively that we should abandon attempts to view AI as becoming human and instead embrace AI as a distinctly different form of intelligence—what I've come to call Alternative Intelligence (Alt-I).

Willis points out that framing AI as a human imitation leads us astray. It sets unrealistic expectations, encourages unproductive ethical debates, and limits our imagination regarding AI’s true potential. Human intelligence emerges from biology, experience, and consciousness, while AI grows from data, computation, and optimization algorithms. Recognizing this fundamental difference allows us to see AI clearly—not as a competitor, but as a partner whose capabilities complement human skills.

But Willis isn't alone. Jordi Linares, PhD in his LinkedIn article Reimagining AI as Alternative Intelligence, reinforces this perspective with a humanistic lens. Linares argues that technology—AI included—isn’t alien at all. It’s deeply human. He writes:

"Technology is human, it’s our creation... part of us since we started our evolution in this world."

Linares pushes back on the term “artificial” for implying detachment or otherness. He sees AI as an extension of human creativity and intelligence, rooted in culture, language, and craft. It’s not artificial—it’s alternative.

One of his most striking metaphors comes from aviation:

“Just as the Wright brothers’ aviation wasn’t about imitating birds... AI doesn’t need to mimic us to be useful.”

Exactly. This metaphor lands. The real innovation happens when we stop copying nature and start building alternatives.

By adopting the term Alternative Intelligence, we encourage a strategic shift:

• We foster collaborative thinking, focusing on how human judgment and machine precision enhance each other.
• We free ourselves to pursue innovative applications of AI beyond mere automation.
• We create a clearer ethical framework for managing AI's powerful capabilities without confusion over moral equivalence with human beings.

Willis and Linares approach the problem from different angles—one historical and evolutionary, the other humanist—but converge on the same insight: AI is something new. Not us. Not alien. Alternative.

By naming it clearly, we give ourselves a better shot at using it wisely.

Kathleen Walch Dave Garrett 🔑 Sanjiv Augustine 🎯 Pete Behrens Jurgen Appelo Dave Prior, LAVM, CST, PMP, ACP Anu Smalley Heidi Musser