AI: Could Biomarkers for Psychiatry, Human Intelligence Be Conceptual?

By David Stephen who looks at biomarkers in this article.

Will there ever be a biological test for human intelligence, to explore how to improve it in the age of AI? Like, would it ever be possible to test a human being for intelligence by some biological factor, and how to make it competitive against AI?

The same question applies to mental disorders. Would there ever be biological tests, to know what therapies would work? These, at least for mental disorders, is what the American Psychiatric Association is seeking.

Biomarkers for Psychiatry, Human Intelligence

There is a recent [January 28, 2026] press release, APA Releases Roadmap for the Future of the DSM, stating that, “The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has released a series of papers offering a proposed roadmap for the future of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The five papers, including the Initial Strategy for the Future of the DSM and four accompanying commentaries, are the result of the committee’s year of structured debate and consideration of long-standing critiques and rapid scientific advances. They propose a forward-looking model for the evolution of the DSM. They also suggest changing the name from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to Diagnostic and Scientific Manual to better reflect its scientific and global scope. The four accompanying papers address structure and dimensions of the DSM; the role of biomarkers and biological factors in diagnosis; vision for incorporating socioeconomic, cultural and environmental determinants of health and intersectionality; and the role of functioning and quality of life in psychiatric diagnosis.”

Conceptual Biomarkers and Theoretical Biological Factors for Psychiatric and Intelligence Nosology

What are the options for biomarkers in the brain for mental disorders? Would they be different or similar to those for human intelligence? What are the universal components in the brain, for functions of human life and experiences? Can a model be developed on these components and their mechanisms, first to explain labels and next to scope out biomarkers?

The problem before psychiatry is not just the distance to developing tests but to even describe what is happening in the brain for the labels of conditions. Mood disorders have several descriptions. But what are their components in the brain and the course of their actions.

Answering these questions can put conditions in perspective as parallels are sought, before adventuring into biomarkers development. The same applies to human intelligence.

Now, artificial intelligence is in an intense acceleration. There are valuable labor tasks that will be lost due to AI. And, because intelligence is the last frontier of superiority for humanity among organisms, it will be important to seek to map it, and explore it for problem-solving.

This is the postulation in Conceptual Biomarkers and Theoretical Biological Factors for Psychiatric and Intelligence Nosology.

The options are electrical and chemical signals as the components of functions in the brain. It states that neurons are conduits or bridges that signals use to carry out functions.

It also states that signals are in sets in cluster of neurons. It is possible to use signals, conceptually, to explain and display all disorders in the DSM. It is also possible to use them to develop, explain, and display the two main types of human intelligence [improvement and operational], to ensure that options are broadened towards survival in the age of AI.

This seminal work on conceptual brain science could be completed by August, 2026, moving psychiatry and intelligence forward, as well as neurology.

David Stephen currently does research in conceptual brain science with focus on the electrical and chemical configurators for how they mechanize the human mind with implications for mental health, disorders, neurotechnology, consciousness, learning, artificial intelligence and nurture. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.

See more breaking stories here.