For those who HAVEN'T studied Thomistic philosophy --
It's metaphysically impossible for a creature 100% of the physical/material order to "rise above it" and grasp immaterial things such as concepts. Which, by the way, is the DEFINITION of "intelligence". Intus legere: to read that which is within, the spiritual, immaterial CONCEPT under the physical appearance. Not just this physical chair here, but what a chair IS. What chair-ness is. Animals and software will never have that, since they are 100% physical and don't even have ONE foot in the spiritual realm, as we humans do.
Humans are the only creature *that is in any way PART OF the material order* which also has an immaterial component: the soul. Angels are not material at all, but they are 100% spiritual. Angels don't reason (step by step) or ratiocinate but they are the only other intelligent beings God created. Angelic intelligence actually works much faster -- instantly reaching any conclusions -- which is why the bad angels didn't get time to repent after their rebellion against God. Any decision an angel makes is forever. Their minds aren't cloudy, slow, and full of doubt as a human's mind is. They are all sharp, as it were. They can look at an ethernet cable, see the magnetic fields caused by the electricity flowing through it, and instantly know what data is passing through it. They could even crack the most secure of encryption protocols -- in their head, in realtime! The most complex calculus known to man is like "2+2" to an angel.
Imagine playing a video game until one of the characters steps out of the screen and joins you in the real world. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. IMPOSSIBLE. You exist on two different orders of being. The video game character only "exists" as 1s and 0's in a RAM chip. My garage is not going to come to life, not even after a quadrillion quadrillion years. Never means never. Metaphysically impossible.
It's a testament to how low mankind has fallen, that MANY MEN TODAY including Elon Musk think that mankind is going to accidentally create a god -- who will then destroy us all. Sorry, you can't create something greater than yourself. Ever heard of "Nemo dat qui non habet"? No one gives what he doesn't have.
Every effect must have a proportionate cause. Passing gas can't have the result of toppling a huge skyscraper. The cause just isn't sufficient to justify that effect. Unless you've been eating LOTS of Taco Bell, but you know what I mean.