Yes, machine learning is a subset of AI and requires human input to function, but it's also true that recent advancements in deep learning and neural networks have allowed AI systems to learn from vast amounts of data and improve their performance with minimal human intervention.

When it comes to intelligence there're different types and AI has shown remarkable abilities in areas such as natural language processing, image and speech recognition, and decision-making. I work at an AI company specializing in emotion recognition and it's impressive how far technology has come in the last decade. But we're far from self-awareness (thankfully).