In the development of AI, as it has been observed, the materialistic theory is considered as there is a similarity between the brain and the machine, as physical support, for the development of the different activities of the mind. However, considering this theory entails a series of problems due to the little understanding of the human mind, in addition to the lack of understanding and conceptualization, both biological and philosophical, of each of the processes of the mind, such as intelligence, reason, consciousness, etc.
From this materialistic posture of the mind, I consider that there are three causes that make an analogy of the mind with the brain and, by extension, of being able to perform an AI in electronic support, and they are: that the human is the only reference to which to be able to simulate since, although animals are endowed with intelligence, it is difficult to demonstrate that they possess consciousness as such. A second point is a historical process that has developed around AI; and finally, as a third point, there is how AI can help us to understand our own brain, both as an analogy or as a means to make models.
As a historical process, as Haugenland (1989) points out, a development was followed that began with the modern conception of the mind, whose first impulse appeared with Copernicus, together with the idea proposed by Hobbes about the computational process, of reasoning, by means of symbolic operations, until culminating with the conferences at Dartmouth, in 1956, where research on artificial intelligence was formalized. It is here where development of AI is observed that began in a parallel way to the development of the concept of mind, to later pass to the own theorization of AI, and that at the moment becomes in practical applications due to the present technology, it presents ups and downs and it is shown fragmented in as much as the technology, the economy, or the interest on the part of the scientific community, make it evident.
Finally, as a third cause, understanding AI as a model of our own mind and consciousness responds to the advantages of creating models whose main tools can be metaphor and analogy. (Martins et al, 2015). However, the creation of a model presents complications in that the reality that it tries to simulate supposes a quantity of variables that are not considered in the first instance, considering in addition that the human brain, as a support of the mind, presents a series of interconnected elements of which currently not very much is known.
In general, we see that, although the materialistic theory believes it is possible to create something similar to the human mind on physical support, and this due to either a historical, epistemic, or necessary origin, it faces two problems: the little knowledge one has of the human brain and its processes, and the lack of a metaphysical critique about it.
References
Haugenland, J. (1989). Artificial Intelligence. The Very Idea. MIT Press.
Martins, P., Pereira, F., & Cardoso, A. (2015). Modelos Computacionales para la Integración Conceptual. En R. Perez (Ed.), Creatividad Computacional (ira ed., pp. 51–63). Patria.