Humans have a powerful tendency to ascribe human characteristics to inanimate objects, including computers. It's a kind of variant of the Pathetic Fallacy[1], except for artifacts instead of natural objects. The intelligence of an artificial intelligence is as real as the characters in our dreams. It's a construct of our own consciousnesses. That doesn't mean it should be discounted though. Our consciousnesses can do a lot and finding artificial ways to stimulate them is powerful to say the least.