Charles Henry Turner: Rethinking Intelligence Long Before AI

Charles Henry Turner

For this week’s thought leader, I want to highlight someone who was asking questions about intelligence long before AI existed. Someone whose work still shapes how we think about learning, problem-solving, and even the algorithms behind AI today.

This week’s thought leader: Charles Henry Turner.

Long before AI or modern behavioral science, Charles Henry Turner was watching ants, bees, and other insects solve problems that seemed far beyond their tiny brains. Charles Henry Turner (1867–1923), American zoologist and pioneer in animal cognition, studied how insects learn and solve problems. His work still influences science and AI today.

He didn’t just observe. They taught him something profound. Intelligence isn’t limited to humans. Patterns of learning, memory, and problem-solving exist in the most unexpected places. His experiments laid the groundwork for animal cognition research and continue to inform how we understand learning and behavior, including the algorithms behind AI.

Turner’s work reminds us that curiosity, careful observation, and asking bold questions can leave a legacy that echoes far beyond a single lifetime. Every time we build an AI that learns, adapts, or solves problems, we are tracing steps he first explored over a century ago. The future of intelligence, artificial or natural, still carries his fingerprints.

Thinking about his insights today, it makes you wonder, if intelligence isn’t limited to humans, how could that change the way we approach learning and build smarter systems?