What Can We Expect From Artificial Intelligence? by Thomas B. Fowler

By Thomas B. Fowler, Catholic Culture, Jan 21, 2026

Thomas Fowler Sc.D. has been analyzing data and programs for 50 years, serving as a consultant to government agencies. He has also been a professor of mathematics, physics, and engineering, and is the author of four books and 145 articles, several dealing with the climate change issue. He is especially concerned about the increasing polticization of science and engineering, and its effect on student education and the ability of elected officials to make accurate judgments. See full bio.

Read: AI’s Real Capabilities (chapter 7 of Thomas B. Fowler’s remarkable book Artificial Intelligence)

Introductory note by Jeff Mirus:

In 2024, Thomas Fowler wrote a series of four articles on artificial intelligence for CatholicCulture.org:

• AI, its capabilities and threats

• The AI paradigm of knowing and its problems

• The human paradigm of knowing, how it is different, why it is not replicable with AI

• Artificial Intelligence: Summary and Conclusions

In late 2025, Tom published a major book on this subject: Artificial Intelligence: Foundations, Limitations, Benefits and Dangers. This is a truly remarkable achievement—both scientifically and philosophically sound—involving a very confusing topic which is characterized for most of us by a combination of relentless commercial hype and absurdly frustrating chat bots. The book explains clearly how AI actually works, identifies its strengths and weaknesses, delineates the difference between human thought and artificial intelligence, and explains how AI can be helpful while identifying the kinds of things that AI will in fact never be able to do. …