Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#1

Post by nabla9 » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 1:27 PM UTC

Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?
smithsonianmag.com

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#2

Post by nabla9 » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

36092596e621d27a4c23e4624b31cb09b96b030c

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#3

Post by zackkatz » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

Yes.

I found this article to be slanted. This quote, for example, assigns too much creativity to a logic-based statement that I think is precisely the type of reasoning AI exhibits.

> Four-year-olds can immediately recognize cats and understand words, but they can also make creative and surprising new inferences that go far beyond their experience. My own grandson recently explained, for example, that if an adult wants to become a child again, he should try not eating any healthy vegetables, since healthy vegetables make a child grow into an adult. This kind of hypothesis, a plausible one that no grown-up would ever entertain, is characteristic of young children.

Also, I suggest updating the title to be less click bait-y. “The difference between bottom-up and top-down machine learning for beginners” or something like that.

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#4

Post by mfritsche » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:04 PM UTC

Betteridge's law of headlines.

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#5

Post by JustSomeNobody » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

Don't underestimate how intelligent 4 year olds are.

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#6

Post by sgift » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

Since "ever" is a very long time: Probably yes. Far more interesting: Will it be smarter in some areas that can be used for something? That already happened. AI is very smart for specific use cases and it is useful.

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#7

Post by mhb » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:12 PM UTC

mfritsche wrote: post #4

Betteridge's law of headlines.

Law of Comments to Headlines to Which Betteridge's Law Apply: Useless comment will reference all-too-familiar Betteridge's Law.

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#8

Post by lelima » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:13 PM UTC

I think we first have to scope what definition of intelligence we want to compare:

1)having good understanding or a high mental capacity; quick to comprehend, as persons or animals: an intelligent student.

2)displaying or characterized by quickness of understanding, sound thought, or good judgment: an intelligent reply.

3)having the faculty of reasoning and understanding; possessing intelligence: intelligent beings in outer space.

4)Computers. pertaining to the ability to do data processing locally; smart: An intelligent terminal can edit input before transmission to a host computer.

Depending on the definition computers already beat humans, not only 4 years old.

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#9

Post by flavor8 » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

"Ever" is not a useful word here. It's like saying "Will four year olds ever be grown in pods?"

A better headline might be "Can AI learn as flexibly as a four year old with today's known techniques?", to which the answer is of course "No".

Re: Will A.I. Ever Be Smarter Than a Four-Year-Old?

#10

Post by laichzeit0 » Thu, Feb 28, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

I'm okay if it takes 100 or 200 years. That's like going from the year 1800 to the year 2000. It's not a long time at all. I think it's completely doable and a reasonable upper bound. Everyone just needs to relax a bit and let progress run its course.