Understanding Natural Understanding And Artificial Intelligence: Does AI Have Any Idea of What It Is Doing?

In this paper, based on an Aristotelian-Thomistic, hylomorphic understanding of human intelligence, I will argue for four essential differences between human intelligence and any possible artificial intelligence systems (AI), thereby hoping to get a better grasp on each: 1. The immateriality of human intelligence vs. the materiality of AI. 2. The difference between mere processors vs. genuine cognitive subjects of information. 3. The difference between the kind of awareness required for genuine human cognition and agency, as opposed to the non-conscious information states of AI. 4. The difference between the essentially socio-historical character of human thought vs. the artificial processing thereof by AI. The paper ends with an intriguing comment by ChatGPT itself.