Dogs are smarter than AI, scientist claims

AI’s bark is worse than its bite.

As fear-mongering over artificial intelligence’s capabilities ensues, experts claim that the so-called advanced tech isn’t nearly as smart as your dog

Woof!

At Wednesday’s Viva Tech conference, Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, revealed that, currently, generative AI is “still very limited.”

“Those systems are still very limited, they don’t have any understanding of the underlying reality of the real world, because they are purely trained on text, massive amount of text,” LeCun said, per CNBC.

By contrast, much of what humans learn “has nothing to do with language,” and, at this point in technological advancement, “that part of the human experience is not captured by AI.”

In other words, robots — while they can excel on medical and business exams — are unable to learn basic chores such as unloading a dishwasher.


Yann LeCun
AI software, LeCun said, is “still very limited.”
REUTERS

Golden Lab with tennis ball at park
In fact, AI has yet to even reach the intelligence of a dog.
Ryan Mullen/Solent News/Shutterstock

“What it tells you we are missing something really big … to reach not just human-level intelligence, but even dog intelligence,” LeCun said.

In fact, experts have “no idea how to reproduce this capacity with machines today.”

“Until we can do this, we are not going to have human-level intelligence, we are not going to have dog level or cat level [intelligence],” LeCun added.

But his remarks contrast those of Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, who said “human-level cognitive abilities” could be possible within the next decade.

Hassabis’ announcement came mere days after Dr. Geoffery Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” quit his job at Google to voice his concerns and regrets about the technology’s development, while people fear for their jobs and others worry over safety.


Open robot brain with cords and mother board inside
Because experts don’t know how to reproduce the capabilities of human learning with AI, it will not be possible to “have human-level intelligence,” nor “dog level or cat level.”
AFP via Getty Images

Vann LeCun
His remarks contrast with other experts who tout AI’s rapid advancement.
AP

“I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn’t done it, somebody else would have,” the 75-year-old previously said.

He’s not the only one — Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has been vocal about the potential threats AI poses.

ChatGPT, an intelligent chatbot software created by OpenAI, has been utilized for cheating by students and dubbed the “atom bomb” by business mogul Warren Buffet.

But as users tinker with the smart bot, they’re realizing it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

While fun to toy with as a pastime, ChatGPT could not produce quality work, according to showrunners for the hit Netflix franchise “Black Mirror.”


Robot with NASA logo on it
While AI can pass an exam, experts say it hasn’t been able to learn physical tasks — yet.
Christopher Sadowski

Charlie Brooker, the series creator, said the chatbot wrote a “s-–t” script for the tantalizing drama.

“Because all it’s done is look up all the synopses of ‘Black Mirror’ episodes, and sort of mush them together. Then if you dig a bit more deeply you go, ‘Oh, there’s not actually any real original thought here,’” he said this month.