Is AI on the Spectrum?

Key points

Large language models (LLMs) tend to be literal, concrete, and detail-oriented and struggle with abstractions.

LLMs also struggle to understand nuances of human emotion, idiom, and human mental states.

These traits resemble autism spectrum disorder, leading some AI developers to "teach" AIs ASD coping skills.

I’m what you’d call a power AI user, employing generative AI 8 to 10 hours per day in my work. AI helps me write and debug computer code, generate images for a graphic novel my wife (PT contributor Chris Gilbert, MD, Ph.D.) will release this year, and solve science problems, most recently with rocket equations. As a former Disney Imagineer, I use AI computer vision and game technology in my entertainment-oriented projects, too.

Last month, while struggling to get an AI