The objective of this paper is to relate the concept of intelligence to the first principles of physics, and, in particular, to answer the following question: can AI system composed only of physical components compete with a human? The answer is proven to be negative if the AI system is based only on simulations, and positive if digital devices are included. It has been demonstrated that in mathematical world, the bridge from matter to intelligence requires extension and modification of quantum physics. Such an extension is implemented by quantum neural nets that perform simulations combined with digital punctuations. The universality of this quantum-classical hybrid is in capability to violate the second law of thermodynamics by moving from disorder to order without external resources. This advanced capability that could be accepted as a definition of human-like intelligence is illustrated by examples.