Study shows common sense does not compute with AI as smart as a kid
- From: News Corp Australia Network
- July 17, 2013
FORGET about taking over the world, artificially intelligent robots are barely smart enough to take over the local kindergarten.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have carried out IQ tests on the best available artificial intelligence systems and found that they are about as smart as the average four-year-old.
While Hollywood likes to depict robots as all-powerful when it comes to thought process, the IQ tests show that even the smartest AI system struggles to answer the question on every two-year-old's lips: why?
Professor Robert Sloan, the university's head of computer science, led the study which used standard IQ assessments for children on ConceptNet 4, a product of researchers at MIT that is considered one of the best available artificial intelligence systems.
Professor Sloan said the tests shows that ConceptNet 4 had average intelligence of a preschooler but, unlike children, the machine scored inconsistent results across the test.
"If a child had scores that varied this much, it might be a symptom that something was wrong," Professor Sloan said.
The questions that the artificial intelligent system struggled with the most were the common sense "why" questions that real people know how to answer through their life experiences.
"As babies, we crawled around and yanked on things and learned that things fall," Professor Sloan said.
"We yanked on other things and learned that dogs and cats don't appreciate having their tails pulled. Life is a rich learning environment.
"We're still very far from programs with common sense."
The research is good news for those people who struggle to make sense out of Siri, the apparent know-it-all who lives in their iPhone.
The next time Siri sends you into a spin, just hit her with the question: why?
That should stump her.