On April 20, Xiongli YANG, a distinguished physiologist, neurobiologist, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), recently gave a guest speech at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Lecture Series to talk about thinking around human intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI).

More than 90 faculty members and students from various schools and colleges at SUSTech attended the lecture.

Academician Xiongli YANG spoke about the thinking and “rethinking” of human intelligence and the current rapid development of AI. He focused on the existing relationship between the development of AI and human intelligence, and described the process of understanding this problem and transforming thinking. He suggested that the question of whether artificial intelligence simulates human brain intelligence or not should be resolved based on the use and aim of AI.

He encouraged everyone to think independently about major scientific issues to further achieve scientific and technological innovation.

The second part of the event was the Dasha River Brain Science Forum. The forum was hosted by Xuejun SONG, Professor of the Department of Medical Neuroscience, and Hongwei GUO, Chair Professor of the Department of Biology.

Xiongli YANG took part in a discussion forum with other guests, including Xuejun SONG, Hongwei GUO, Tao YE, Jiayi ZHANG, Dong LIU, Fangyi CHEN, Longzhen CHENG, Zilong WANG, and Ruilin TIAN, and discussed major scientific issues such as human intelligence and AI with faculty members and students in attendance. 

Academician YANG emphasized the importance of self-referentiality in the study of animal “consciousness”. He believes that the human brain may not be able to solve the brain’s mystery, but scientific study can constantly approach absolute confirmation of the enigma.