Aristotle and the limits of artificial intelligence: Can AI ever possess telos?

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Aristotle’s fourth cause – telos, provides an insightful heuristic tool for understanding artificial intelligence. Currently, artificial intelligence is embedding itself in the fabric of global institutions. The purpose of artificial intelligence, in technical terms, is clear, it is the mathematical objective function that the system is trained to optimize. However, a critical distinction remains to be investigated regarding the nature of artificial intelligence’s purpose. Since artificial intelligence is capable of mimicking aspects of the human mind, due to it possessing ‘functional consciousness’ does this mean that there is a potential for the emergence of higher order properties? Can AI ever achieve practical wisdom? This paper provides a critique of the capabilities of artificial intelligence in relation to telos.