Is Artificial Intelligence Real or just a Simulation

Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision.

AI concentrates on three cognitive skills: learning, reasoning, and self-correction. The learning processes of AI programming focus is on acquiring data and creating rules for how to turn the data into actionable information.

What exactly is simulation? A simulation is a model that mimics the operation of an existing or proposed system, providing evidence for decision-making by being able to test different scenarios or process changes.

If using AI, the focus is to mimic an existing or proposed system's operation; why is that considered intelligence?

If the AI system sees each face as a complex mathematical figure, a range of values that can be shifted, then choosing different values — like those that determine the size and shape of eyes — can alter the whole image. Does this lead to the question as to whether artificial intelligence does more than simulate what it is told?