Machines that think like humans: Everything to know about AGI and AI Debate 3

After a year's hiatus, the AI Debate hosted by Gary Marcus and Vincent Boucher returned with a gaggle of AI thinkers, this time including policy types and scholars outside of the discipline of AI such as Noam Chomsky.

Montreal.ai and Gary Marcus

After a one-year hiatus, the annual artificial intelligence debate organized by Montreal.ai and by NYU emeritus professor and AI gadfly Gary Marcus returned Friday evening, once again organized as a virtual-only event as in 2020.

Special Feature

The Tech Trends to Watch in 2023

Learn about the leading tech trends the world will lean into over the next 12 months and how they will affect your life and your job.

Read now

The debate this year, AI Debate 3: The AGI Debate, as it's called, focused on the concept of artificial general intelligence, the notion of a machine capable of integrating a myriad of reasoning abilities approaching human levels. 

Marcus lauded the paper on a system called Cicero this year from Meta's AI scientists, because it ran against the thread of simply scaling up. He noted the model has separate systems for planning and language. 

Artificial Intelligence

• AI in 2023: A year of breakthroughs that left no human thing unchanged
• These are the jobs most likely to be taken over by AI
• AI at the edge: 5G and the Internet of Things see fast times ahead
• Almost half of tech executives say their organizations aren't ready for AI or other advanced initiatives

Dileep George chimed in that AI will need to make "some basic set of assumptions about the world," and "there is some magic about our structure of the world that enables us to make just some handful of assumptions, maybe less than half a dozen, and apply those lessons over and over again to build a model of the world."

Such assumptions are, in fact, inside of deep learning models, but at a level removed from direct observation, added George.

Marcus asked Chomsky, age 94, what motivates him. "What motivates me is the Delphic Oracle," said Chomsky. "Know thyself." Added Chomsky, there is virtually no genetic difference between human beings. Language, he said, has not changed since the emergence of humans, as evinced by any child in any culture being able to acquire language. "What kind of creatures are we?" is the question, said Chomsky. Chomsky proposed language will be the core of AI to figure out what makes humans so unique as a species. 

Marcus moved on to the second question, about achieving pragmatic reasoning in computer systems. He brought out Yejin Choi, who is Brett Helsel Professor at the University of Washington, as the first speaker. 

7 advanced ChatGPT prompt-writing tips you need to know Motorola wants you to wear its new bendable phone like a watch - but don't get too excited What are passkeys? Experience the life-changing magic of going passwordless The best robot lawn mowers you can buy 7 advanced ChatGPT prompt-writing tips you need to know

Motorola wants you to wear its new bendable phone like a watch - but don't get too excited

What are passkeys? Experience the life-changing magic of going passwordless

The best robot lawn mowers you can buy

Editorial standards Show Comments