“The fact that LLMs trained on the task of next-token prediction can also do a pretty good job at a variety of natural language tasks, and, very recently, a considerably less good job of tasks that combine text with images, as emphasized by Agüera y Arcas and Norvig is certainly interesting, but it doesn’t justify the claim that they constitute “general intelligence”.”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
LLMs trained on next-token prediction doing a pretty good job at a variety of natural language tasks, and very recently a considerably less good job at tasks combining text with images, is certainly interesting but does not justify the claim that they constitute general intelligence.
Assessment: Can’t be checked Not checked against evidence
Where and when Gary Marcus wrote it
Marcus on AI, Reports of the birth of AGI are greatly exaggerated, paragraph 19.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence
- Not checkedboth screens found it cannot be checked
- Assessment recorded
- assessment marcus-reports-of-the-birth-of-agi-are-greatly-5d18b5-a1
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The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-29. The source may have been edited after 2023-10-18. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Recommendation or value judgment
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No horizon (the release’s reference date)
Conditions
- very recently (qualifier, stated by the speaker)
From the speaker
- very recently
Our interpretation
None added.
This claim is not graded on evidence. The record checks that the words are quoted correctly and attributed to the right person, and that the claim is classified correctly.
Current assessment
Not graded on evidence
Outcome: Can’t be checked
Both AI providers screened this claim on their own and found that public evidence could not settle it. It is recorded and attributed, not scored.
Why it can’t be checked
Both screens gave the same reason:
- A recommendation or a value judgment.
- Evidence
- Not checked
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
Not checked against evidence. Two independent screens, one from each provider, both found this a recommendation or a value judgment.
Limitations
None recorded.
Evidence (0 items)
No evidence was searched for. Both screens found that public evidence could not settle this claim.
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Marcus on AI, Reports of the birth of AGI are greatly exaggerated
The fact that LLMs trained on the task of next-token prediction can also do a pretty good job at a variety of natural language tasks, and, very recently, a considerably less good job of tasks that combine text with images, as emphasized by Agüera y Arcas and Norvig is certainly interesting, but it doesn’t justify the claim that they constitute “general intelligence”.
- Where
- paragraph 19
- Published
- 2023-10-18
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment marcus-reports-of-the-birth-of-agi-are-greatly-5d18b5-a1: Current. Outcome: Can’t be checked. Not checked against evidence. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.
About assessment marcus-reports-of-the-birth-of-agi-are-greatly-5d18b5-a1.