The New Science of Alt Intelligence
We recorded 11 claims from this post. 2 were checked against evidence. 9 can’t be checked. 3 more are held. Read the post at its source.
Claims from this post (11)
In the order they appear in the post. Each quotation is the speaker’s words in this post. A label such as “Supported” or “Can’t be checked” is the claim’s current assessment; its page has the evidence and the reasons.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Observation
“A large fraction of current AI researchers, or at least those currently in power, don’t (so far as I can tell) give a damn about any of this.”
Our reading: A large fraction of current AI researchers, or at least those currently in power, do not, so far as Marcus can tell, care about AI taking inspiration from natural intelligence.
No horizon
Scope: a large fraction of current AI researchers, or at least those currently in power
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Observation
“But anyone who is candid will recognize that these kinds of errors reveal that something is, for now, deeply amiss.”
Our reading: Anyone who is candid will recognise that these kinds of errors by current AI systems reveal that something is, for now, deeply amiss.
No horizon
Qualifier: for now
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Recommendation or value judgment
“To some (such as myself), the abiding problem of discomprehension might—despite the immense progress—signal the need for a fundamental rethink, such as the one that Davis and I offered in our book Rebooting AI.”
Our reading: The persistent problem of discomprehension may signal that AI needs a fundamental rethink.
No horizon
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Observation
“We are in early days in AI.”
Our reading: AI is still at an early stage of development.
No horizon
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Recommendation or value judgment
“Let us all encourage a field that is open-minded enough to work in multiple directions, without prematurely dismissing ideas that happen to be not yet fully developed.”
Our reading: The AI field should pursue multiple research directions rather than dismissing undeveloped ideas prematurely.
No horizon
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Forecast
“It may just be that the best path to artificial (general) intelligence isn’t through Alt Intelligence, after all.”
Our reading: The best path to AGI may not be through data-driven Alt Intelligence approaches.
No horizon
Assessment: UnresolvedSaid
Observation
“As I have written, I am fine with thinking of Gato as an “Alt Intelligence”— an interesting exploration in alternative ways to build intelligence—but we need to take it in context: it doesn’t work like the brain, it doesn’t learn like a child, it doesn’t understand language, it doesn’t align with human values, and it can’t be trusted with mission-critical tasks.”
Our reading: Gato does not work like the brain, learn like a child, understand language, or align with human values, and cannot be trusted with mission-critical tasks.
No horizon Evidence as of
Limitation: The evidence is the developers' original report, rather than independent validation of all five assertions [e6].
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Recommendation or value judgment
“It may well be better than anything else we currently have, but the fact that it still doesn’t really work, even after all the immense investments that have been made in it, should give us pause.”
Our reading: Gato may well be better than anything else we currently have, but the fact that it still doesn't really work, even after immense investment, should give us pause.
No horizon
Qualifier: may well be better than anything else we currently have
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Recommendation or value judgment
“AI should certainly not be a slavish replica of human intelligence (which after all is flawed in its own ways, saddled with lousy memory and cognitive bias). But it should look to human (and animal cognition) for clues.”
Our reading: AI research should draw clues from human and animal cognition without slavishly replicating human intelligence.
No horizon
Assessment: UnresolvedSaid
Conditional forecast
“The bottom line is this, something that AI once cherished but has now forgotten: If we are to build AGI, we are going to need to learn something from humans, how they reason and understand the physical world, and how they represent and acquire language and complex concepts.”
Our reading: If we are to build AGI, we will need to learn something from humans: how they reason and understand the physical world, and how they represent and acquire language and complex concepts.
No deadline stated Evidence as of
Only if: if we are to build AGI
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
Recommendation or value judgment
“It is sheer hubris to believe otherwise.”
Our reading: It is sheer hubris to believe that AGI can be built without learning from how humans reason, understand the world, and represent and acquire language and concepts.
No horizon
Held from this post (3)
These records did not pass every check, so nothing about them is published. Held is not a finding.