Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Of Minds and Machines

by Patrick Grim, The Great Courses

Long before we were immersed in artificial intelligence, we met it in the movies—in HAL, R2D2, and the Terminator. Obsequious robots, homicidal mainframes, and uncanny virtual companions prepared us for a future that has now arrived. Today, AI shapes daily life through chatbots like ChatGPT, autonomous systems that navigate our streets, and financial algorithms that track our spending. With AI everywhere, we need to understand how these systems work, what their limits are, and where they may take us next.

In Understanding Artificial Of Minds and Machines, philosopher Patrick Grim traces the story of AI from ancient legends to the neural networks behind today’s breakthroughs. You see how modern systems became so powerful so quickly.

You also explore the very meaning of “intelligence,” discovering how modern AI succeeds by drawing on three vast datasets that let systems learn from examples; deep-learning architectures loosely modeled on the brain’s layers; and feedback loops that help models refine their behavior. Together, these give AI the flexibility that lets it mimic intelligence.

But there are downsides that the course brings these into sharp black-box opacity, where systems offer answers with no explanation; deepfakes that blur the boundary between real and fabricated; and the much-debated “Singularity,” the point at which machines might one day outpace human intelligence.

Knowing how AI works is the best strategy for navigating what comes next. If AI follows the pattern of past technological revolutions, it may eventually slow and plateau. Or future advances, such as quantum computing, may push it far beyond where it stands today. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau warned over 250 years ago, it’s crucial “to foresee that some things cannot be foreseen.”

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Published January 23, 2026

About the author

Dr. Patrick Grim is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

He graduated with highest honors in anthropology and philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was named a Fulbright Fellow to the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, from which he earned his B.Phil. He earned his Ph.D. from Boston University.

Professor Grim is the recipient of several honors and awards. In addition to being named SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Dr. Grim has been awarded the President and Chancellor’s awards for excellence in teaching and was elected to the Academy of Teachers and Scholars. The Weinberg Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan in 2006, Professor Grim has also held visiting fellowships at the Center for Complex Systems at Michigan and at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Professor Grim, author of The Incomplete Universe: Totality, Knowledge, and Truth; coauthor of The Philosophical Computer: Exploratory Essays in Philosophical Computer Modeling; and editor of the forthcoming Mind and Consciousness: 5 Questions, is widely published in scholarly journals. He is the founder and coeditor of 25 volumes of The Philosopher’s Annual, an anthology of the best articles published in philosophy each year.