There is no need to reduce programing to math (even though you can technically do so) just as there is no need to reduce ‘talking’ to math just because speech can be represented with numbers. In fact you can represent most things (probably all things) with numbers.
I do think it is interesting philosophically how much powerful machine learning algorithms are over the traditional linear models. And perhaps it is a good description to say that “best fit program” is inferred. However these algorithms are still limited to inference. And—while useful—calling it intelligent is not very accurate—at least in the way most people use the word—no matter how complected of a construct they are inferring.
I do think it is interesting philosophically how much powerful machine learning algorithms are over the traditional linear models. And perhaps it is a good description to say that “best fit program” is inferred. However these algorithms are still limited to inference. And—while useful—calling it intelligent is not very accurate—at least in the way most people use the word—no matter how complected of a construct they are inferring.