On the Ontological Distinction Between Human and Artificial Intelligence Role, Function, and the Limits of Substitution
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | German |
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Zenodo
2026
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| _version_ | 1866901491573325824 |
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| author | Brueckner, Winfried |
| author_facet | Brueckner, Winfried |
| contents | <p>This work presents a concise ontological clarification of the relationship between human beings and artificial intelligence. It argues that humans and AI do not exist on a shared developmental scale and cannot be meaningfully compared in terms of maturity, intelligence, or capability. Instead, they belong to fundamentally different orders of being.</p> <p>The central distinction developed in this note is between <strong>role</strong> and <strong>function</strong>. Human beings are role-bearing agents capable of self-binding, responsibility, and decision in the strict sense. Artificial intelligence, by contrast, is a functional artefact: configurable, optimisable, and substitutable, but not capable of carrying responsibility or meaning.</p> <p>The text deliberately avoids normative prohibitions (“what AI must not do”) and instead focuses on categorical clarity (“what AI cannot be”). It shows why meaning, responsibility, and decision cannot be delegated to artificial systems without producing structural confusion and moral displacement.</p> <p>The accompanying presentation material frames these arguments in a precise, system-oriented form suitable for academic, strategic, and governance contexts. The aim is not to limit technological development, but to prevent category errors that arise when functional systems are treated as role-bearing entities, or when humans reduce themselves to functional components.</p> <p>This note is intended for researchers, system designers, policy makers, and institutional actors concerned with AI governance, responsibility attribution, and the long-term coherence of human–AI collaboration.</p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_18801172 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | deu |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | On the Ontological Distinction Between Human and Artificial Intelligence Role, Function, and the Limits of Substitution Brueckner, Winfried <p>This work presents a concise ontological clarification of the relationship between human beings and artificial intelligence. It argues that humans and AI do not exist on a shared developmental scale and cannot be meaningfully compared in terms of maturity, intelligence, or capability. Instead, they belong to fundamentally different orders of being.</p> <p>The central distinction developed in this note is between <strong>role</strong> and <strong>function</strong>. Human beings are role-bearing agents capable of self-binding, responsibility, and decision in the strict sense. Artificial intelligence, by contrast, is a functional artefact: configurable, optimisable, and substitutable, but not capable of carrying responsibility or meaning.</p> <p>The text deliberately avoids normative prohibitions (“what AI must not do”) and instead focuses on categorical clarity (“what AI cannot be”). It shows why meaning, responsibility, and decision cannot be delegated to artificial systems without producing structural confusion and moral displacement.</p> <p>The accompanying presentation material frames these arguments in a precise, system-oriented form suitable for academic, strategic, and governance contexts. The aim is not to limit technological development, but to prevent category errors that arise when functional systems are treated as role-bearing entities, or when humans reduce themselves to functional components.</p> <p>This note is intended for researchers, system designers, policy makers, and institutional actors concerned with AI governance, responsibility attribution, and the long-term coherence of human–AI collaboration.</p> |
| title | On the Ontological Distinction Between Human and Artificial Intelligence Role, Function, and the Limits of Substitution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18801172 |