The ants...

[Raiden]

Originally Posted by Aihwa

Perhaps not as an individual, but the collective...

Collective intelligence: Ants and brain's neurons

Ants and Neurons

Well, yeah, they operate differently as a collective, but as the second article says:

"The similarities between ants and neurons 'suggest there are general principles of organization for building groups far smarter than the smartest individuals in them'."

Scientists are only using them as living analogies to try to better understand neurons. Ants as a collective do not have true intelligence, because as the first article says, they communicate with chemicals, a system which is not streamlined enough to convey things like ideas, memories, or emotions, all of which are standards for whether or not an animal is sentient.