Intelligent machines now have the thinking capacity of a preschooler

The time might not yet be ripe for machines to take over the world, but they're getting there.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed to the level of an average four-year-old child, according to researchers who tested one of the world's most advanced AI systems.

 

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago tested the "ConceptNet 4" system built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, TechHive.com reported.

 

"We're still very far from programs with common sense and AI that can answer comprehension questions with the skill of a child of 8," it quoted Robert Sloan, head of computer science at the university, as saying.

 

TechHive noted the AI system's software has been upgraded to ConceptNet 5 since the study began.

 

Sloan is seeking to help focus attention on the "hard spots" or challenges in AI research.

 

Testing

 

The university said the AI system got uneven scores in different parts of the Weschsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Test, TechHive.com said.

 

It quoted Sloan as saying that while ConceptNet 4 did well on a vocabulary test, as well as on its ability to recognize similarities, it was "dramatically worse" than average in comprehension abilities, such as answering "why" questions.

 

Sloan also noted one of the hardest problems in AI research is building a computer program that can make good judgment calls.

 

He said it is hard to program common sense as scientists have not quite figured out how to give systems knowledge about things that humans find obvious.

 

"All of us know a huge number of things. As babies, we crawled around and yanked on things and learned that things fall. We yanked on other things and learned that dogs and cats don't appreciate having their tails pulled," Sloan said. — TJD, GMA News