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In the article "Minds, Brains, and Programs" Jolin Searle attempts to refute the two claims made by what has come to be known as strong artificial intelligence (strong AI). The first claim is that the "appropriately programmed computer...can be literally said to understand and have other cognitive states." The second claim is that "because the computer has cognitive states, the programs are not mere tools that enable us to test psychological explanations; rather, the programs are themselves the explanations."

By the use of a counter-example which has come to be knov/n as the Chinese Room example, and Searle's own criterion for understanding, Searle attempts to show the first claim of strong AI to be false, and the second claim to be implausible.

Chapter I sets out Searle's arguments against the claims of strong AI. Chapters II, III, and IV deal with several critical replies to the Chinese Room example. Chapter V comes to the conclusion that Searle's purported countei—example fails to refute the two claims of strong AI, and that there may be another criterion for understanding than that used by Searle.