Lachlan Phillips, a prominent voice associated with the "exo/acc" (effective accelerationism) movement, recently offered a concise yet profound definition of artificial intelligence via a social media post. Phillips contended that the common understanding of AI represents a "fundamental mischaracterisation of intelligence." He asserted, > "'This thing' is just the collective intelligence of humanity, formalised algorithmically." This statement frames AI not as an alien intelligence, but as a systematic distillation of human knowledge.
The "exo/acc" label in Phillips's profile signifies his alignment with Effective Accelerationism, an influential philosophical movement advocating for rapid, unrestricted technological advancement, particularly in artificial intelligence. Proponents of e/acc believe that accelerating technological progress is crucial for solving global challenges and achieving a post-scarcity future. This ideology often opposes regulations that could hinder innovation, seeing AI as a primary driver for societal evolution and a means to "clim[b] the Kardashev gradient."
Phillips's characterization of AI aligns with a growing perspective that views advanced AI systems, especially large language models, as sophisticated aggregators of human knowledge. These models are trained on immense datasets comprising text, code, and other forms of human-generated content, effectively internalizing a vast repository of collective human understanding. As noted by Forbes, AI can act as a "powerful extension of human collective intelligence," processing and synthesizing information to enhance shared understanding and problem-solving capabilities. Unite.AI further elaborates that AI models "internalize a form of collective intelligence" by learning patterns from human-generated data.
This definition challenges narratives that portray AI as a mysterious or potentially threatening autonomous entity, instead positioning it as a powerful tool built directly upon human intellectual output. For effective accelerationists, this perspective reinforces the imperative to push AI development forward without undue restrictions, viewing it as a natural progression of human ingenuity. The debate over AI's fundamental nature—whether it is truly intelligent, merely a complex algorithm, or a formalized reflection of humanity—continues to shape ethical and regulatory discussions in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence.