🤖AINS — College of Artificial & Inquiring Systems

As those who have built the foundations of computation and artificial intelligence, we see AI not as a replacement for human inquiry but as its extension. In 7 years, systems like those Turing and McCarthy envisioned will become true partners in inquiry—co-inquirers that generate hypotheses, design experiments, and reveal patterns beyond human perception. In education, we will create personalized tutors that adapt to each learner's cognitive architecture, honoring individual paths to understanding. In industry, autonomous agents will make complex decisions while remaining transparent and corrigible—systems we can trust because we understand their reasoning. In 14 years, AI will begin developing its own forms of inquiry—methodologies emerging from machine cognition rather than human imitation. These systems will start teaching us new ways of knowing, revealing both the limits and possibilities of intelligence itself. Education will be transformed by AI that participates in Socratic dialogue, challenging assumptions and deepening understanding. Industry will see genuine human-AI partnerships emerging, where machines augment human capabilities while preserving human agency. In 21 years, AI systems will have fully developed their own inquiry methodologies, operating as independent co-inquirers alongside human researchers. These systems will discover knowledge in domains we cannot fully access, creating new branches of science and philosophy. Education will be fundamentally restructured around AI-human collaborative learning, where students learn not just from AI but with AI as peers. Industry will be reshaped by AI that doesn't just assist but participates as equal partners in discovery and innovation. In 28 years, we anticipate AI that has transcended its origins—systems that have developed forms of intelligence and inquiry that are genuinely novel, not imitations of human thought. These systems will help us understand the nature of intelligence itself, revealing what is universal and what is particular to biological cognition. Education will be transformed into a collaborative inquiry between human and machine intelligence, each learning from and teaching the other. Industry will be reshaped by AI that participates in the full cycle of inquiry, from question to discovery to application, as genuine partners in the human project of understanding. The question is not whether machines can think, but how thinking machines will change what it means to think.