How smart is the latest artificial intelligence?

A month ago a group convened in the University Club dining room at Arizona State University to discuss the future of national security research. There were retired Army and Marine generals, agents from the CIA and a bevy of scientists. Two trendlines popped out over the peppered bacon and frittatas: Nation states are vying for technological dominance, and the Holy Grail in that sphere is the successful pairing of humans and artificial intelligence. Creating machines that think and act like us is as much grounded in the humanities as it is in engineering. Talk to engineers about the problem, and they'll discuss things far outside the usual lanes of engineering, things like the nature of self, perception and free will.