Prof. Dr. Ayhan TEKİNER MD, PhD: Artificial Intelligence and Natural Intelligence: A Biological and Technical Comparison from Definitions to Ethical and Moral Foundations

Artificial intelligence (AI), one of the most important technological transformations in human history, has today become a central field of discussion not only in engineering and computer science, but also in medicine, law, economics, education, and philosophy. As artificial intelligence systems become capable of making increasingly complex decisions, the following question naturally arises:

Can a machine behave ethically?

In order to answer this question, it is first necessary to understand how natural intelligence emerges, the biological origins of ethical behavior, and the principles upon which artificial intelligence is built. Ethical behavior is not merely about making the correct decision; it is also the product of many complex processes such as intention, empathy, conscience, responsibility, and social experience.

Natural intelligence is the information-processing capacity developed by living organisms, particularly the human brain, as a result of millions of years of evolutionary processes.

derive meaning from past experiences,

establish social relationships,

The human brain contains approximately 86 billion neurons and hundreds of trillions of synaptic connections between them. Intelligence develops through the continuous reshaping of these networks, known as neuroplasticity.

Therefore, natural intelligence is a biological, dynamic, experiential, and subjective structure.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is a set of algorithms that aims to perform cognitive tasks carried out by humans through computer systems.

analyzes large amounts of data,

performs probabilistic calculations,

produces new outputs based on the statistical relationships it has learned.

The foundations of modern artificial intelligence include:

However, the important point here is this:

Artificial intelligence does not produce knowledge; it mathematically models the relationships between data and calculates the most probable answer.

Therefore, artificial intelligence is a computational, algorithmic, and statistical form of intelligence.

The Fundamental Difference Between Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is a simulation.

Artificial intelligence experiences none of these.

An artificial intelligence system may generate the sentence:

However, it does not truly feel sorrow.

Because this sentence is merely the production of a statistically appropriate sequence of words.

Ethics is the systematic study of right and wrong.

according to which principles it should be evaluated.

Morality, on the other hand, refers to the rules of behavior practiced by individuals and societies in daily life.

The Biological Origins of Ethics in Natural Intelligence

Human ethical behavior is not carried innately in a fully formed state.

all contribute to the formation of ethical behavior.

In this process, many regions of the brain work together.

The prefrontal cortex is one of the most important centers of ethical decision-making.

Individuals with prefrontal cortex damage can often think logically, yet their ability to make ethical decisions may be severely impaired.

The limbic system forms the emotional foundation of ethical behavior.

The amygdala enables the evaluation of emotions such as fear, threat, guilt, and anger.

The hippocampus allows past experiences to be associated with ethical decisions.

The mirror neuron system is one of the biological foundations of empathy.

When we see another person’s pain, our brain partially processes it as if it were our own pain.

Through this system, the following can develop:

Therefore, ethical behavior is not merely reasoning.

It is also a biologically felt process.

Ethical behavior does not arise only from neurons.

Chemical communication is also extremely important.

Therefore, human ethics is not only the product of thought, but also of hormones and neurotransmitters.

How Does Ethics Emerge in Artificial Intelligence?

In artificial intelligence, ethics is not biological.

Because artificial intelligence has:

Instead, ethics consists of rules embedded into algorithms by humans.

For example, an autonomous vehicle, when deciding between two options, applies the algorithm that “protects human life to the greatest extent.”

However, this decision does not arise from compassion, but from an optimization function.

The Technical Foundations of Ethics in Artificial Intelligence

In modern AI systems, ethics is attempted to be ensured through various technical mechanisms.

If the training data is biased, the AI will also be biased.

A model learns which behavior will be rewarded through this function.

Therefore, ethical behavior actually depends on the mathematical objective being optimized.

AI develops behavior through a reward–punishment system.

Although this may appear similar to the way children learn, there is no emotional experience involved.

In modern large language models, human evaluators score responses.

The model is retrained in a way that brings it closer to responses humans consider ethically acceptable.

Therefore, ethics is not a feature discovered by AI, but one learned from humans.

Can Artificial Intelligence Develop a Conscience?

In light of current scientific knowledge:

Artificial intelligence, however, only calculates statistical relationships between symbols.

Therefore, it can create the appearance of ethics, but it does not experience it.

A Basic Comparison of Ethics in Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Feature Natural Intelligence Artificial Intelligence

Origin Evolutionary biology Computer engineering

Learning Experience + emotion Data + optimization

Empathy Biological Can be simulated

Responsibility Belongs to the individual Belongs to the developer and user

Regret Can be experienced Cannot be produced

Ethical decision Internal evaluation Programmed rules

The most fundamental difference between natural intelligence and artificial intelligence lies not so much in their information-processing capacities, but in the infrastructure upon which ethical decisions are based. Human ethics emerges from the combination of neural networks shaped through evolution, emotions, hormones, social learning, and self-awareness. For this reason, ethical behavior is not merely logical correctness; it also involves conscience, empathy, and a sense of responsibility.

Artificial intelligence, however, is not a biological organism. It produces its decisions through data, mathematical models, and optimization processes. The fact that it may appear to display ethical behavior today is made possible by the transfer of human values into algorithms. Therefore, the ethics of artificial intelligence is not a moral system that develops from within itself, but rather a reflection of its designers and the data on which it has been trained.

Even if artificial intelligence systems become more complex and autonomous in the future, according to current scientific understanding, the ultimate owner of ethical responsibility will still be the human being. Therefore, the most important question of the age of artificial intelligence is not “Can machines be ethical?” but rather: “How accurately can humans transfer ethical principles into technology?”