Can AI ever develop real intuition?

No, and I say that as someone who builds these systems for a living. Intuition comes from being wrong in public, living with the consequences, and carrying that memory into the next decision. A model has none of that <••> no risk, no memory of failure that actually cost it something, no skin in the game at all. It can predict a plausible next step based on patterns. It cannot care whether that step is the right one. That difference is the entire argument of this book in one sentence.