Artificial intelligence (AI) is doing things we once imagined only humans could do. It can do poetry, detect cancerous cells with high accuracy, solve equations that used to take teams of scientists weeks or months, design new materials, write complex software code, and even simulate the formation of stars in far galaxies. In just a few seconds, it does tasks that once required lifetimes.
For many, it’s very positive to believe that AI could one day find the secrets of the universe. And naturally, one question stands out: Could AI someday really understand quantum mechanics — the most counterintuitive and mysterious theory in all of physics?
As a physicist, I admire the power of AI. It has already become a crucial tool in modern science. But when it comes to openly understanding quantum mechanics, I am doubtful.
AI does not lack computational strength or algorithmic intelligence, but it may be missing something far more fundamental—a feature not measured in processing speed or memory but in experience: consciousness. And without it, AI may never hold the full meaning of a universe where the observer plays a central role.
Quantum mechanics explains the behaviour of particles at the tiniest or micro levels — atoms, electrons and photons. It shows us a world that works in ways our everyday logic can’t handle.
In this world, particles can be in two places at once. They can behave like both waves and solid objects. But here’s the strangest part: In quantum physics, observation matters, i.e., how do we observe it, and it matters a lot.
Until something is measured, it exists in many possible states at the same time — a state called superposition. But once it’s observed or measured, it “collapses” into one state.
In simple words, what we see may depend on the act of seeing itself. Some interpretations suggest that reality, at the quantum level, does not even exist in a definite way until it is observed. That puts the observer — the conscious being — right in the middle of the picture.
This is where AI might hit a wall. AI processes data, yes. But it doesn’t “observe” in the same way as humans do. It doesn’t experience reality. And that might be exactly what’s needed to understand the quantum world.
In the 1930s, a mathematician Kurt Gödel gave a theorem. He showed that in any logical system, there will always be some truths that cannot be proven using the system’s own rules. This is known as Gödel’s incompleteness theorem.
AI is built on such logical systems. It follows rules, even if they’re complex. But if human minds can somehow see or understand truths beyond those rules, as Gödel himself believed, then that’s a big deal. It means our brains might not just be fancy computers. They might be doing something deeper —something AI cannot do.
British physicist and Nobel Prize winner Sir Roger Penrose took this idea further. He argued that human consciousness might be ingrained in quantum processes inside the brain in ‘microtubules’ inside our neurons. Penrose proposed a theory called Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) which said that the brain may use quantum mechanics to produce consciousness.
This is still a controversial idea, but it raises a powerful question: What if understanding quantum reality actually requires a quantum mind? If that’s true, no matter how powerful AI becomes, it may never cross that line. It can simulate quantum systems, yes. But simulation is not the same as understanding.
Let’s be fair — AI is really very useful in quantum research. It can solve the Schrödinger equation faster than any physicist. It can help design quantum computers, discover new materials and improve experiments. These are big contributions. They don’t require awareness or understanding.
AI works like a super-fast calculator. It moves symbols around, but it doesn’t know what those symbols mean. Imagine a machine that reads Shakespeare and analyses every sentence perfectly—but never feels the beauty or sorrow in the words. That’s what AI might be like when it deals with quantum physics.
Some researchers assert it’s only a matter of time before AI becomes conscious. After all, the human brain is made of matter and follows physical laws. So why couldn’t a machine eventually mimic it? Maybe. But even if a future AI becomes “aware”, we still don’t know if it would be capable of the kind of observation that quantum mechanics seems to require.
Consciousness, especially in the quantum sense, may involve something we haven’t fully understood yet — something that comes from being a part of the reality, not just calculating it.
There are also newer theories of physics which explain that reality exists only through relationships — through interactions. And AI, no matter how fast, remains outside that relationship. It’s a bystander. A powerful one, but still on the outside.
All this brings us to a point. AI works through syntax — rules, patterns, logic. But real understanding also involves semantics — meaning, awareness and the intuition.
Just as reading the word “love” isn’t the same as feeling it, calculating probabilities in quantum mechanics isn’t the same as grasping what they really represent. AI may soon predict quantum outcomes with great accuracy (high P value). But will it ever understand what it feels like to be a conscious observer entangled with the universe? That’s far less certain.
Quantum mechanics may not be just a cold set of equations on a chalkboard. It might point to a universe where observation, awareness and relationship are not just side effects but central ingredients. In such a universe, consciousness isn’t an add-on — it’s part of the equation itself.
And that may be the final wall AI cannot cross. No matter how advanced it becomes, AI might always be a spectator, never a participant. It might map the territory with precision — but never walk the land.
Until we understand what consciousness truly is — and whether it arises from something more than computation — AI will remain a powerful tool but not a true knower of the quantum world. That mystery, it seems, may still belong to the human mind.
Nishant Sahdev is a theoretical & quantum physicist, University of North Carolina.
