In the ongoing debate surrounding the potential dangers of rapidly advancing technology, Jan Likan, Meta's chief artificial intelligence scientist, recently expressed his perspective on the intelligence of existing AI systems like ChatGPT. Likan emphasized that these systems, although based on large language models, are far from possessing human-like intelligence and are arguably no smarter than dogs.
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, operates as a language model that has been extensively trained on vast amounts of data. It allows users to interact with the AI system by asking questions and making requests, to which the chatbot responds in a comprehensible language.
The concerns surrounding artificial intelligence have been voiced by leading experts, who fear the potential risks it may pose to society. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has even stated that artificial intelligence is one of the greatest threats to the future of civilization.
During the Viva Tech conference on June 14, Likan was asked about the current limitations of artificial intelligence. In his response, he focused on generative AI trained on large language models, highlighting their lack of true intelligence due to their sole focus on language.
Likan pointed out that these AI systems remain highly limited as they lack an understanding of the real world. Their training solely revolves around an extensive volume of text, whereas a significant portion of human knowledge extends beyond language.
While Likan acknowledged that AI systems can now pass the United States Bar Examination to function as lawyers, he pointed out that they are incapable of performing simple tasks such as loading a dishwasher, a task that a 10-year-old child can easily learn in a matter of minutes.
To address these limitations, Meta is currently engaged in training AI systems using videos, aiming to expand their capabilities beyond language and into more complex tasks. Likan acknowledged that this approach presents a tougher challenge but holds the potential to enhance the AI's understanding of the real world.