Not Smarter Than a Cat? LeCun Calls Out AI Hype

If today’s AI can’t outthink a house cat, how exactly are we supposed fear its world domination?

Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, isn’t buying the hype about AI's supposed imminent takeover. While peers like Geoffrey Hinton warn of existential AI risks, LeCun says today’s AI models are more like clever parrots than genuine thinkers—lacking the reasoning, planning, or memory even a cat possesses. However, that does not mean it cannot do any less harm - looking at all the AI-generated misinformation.

His criticism targets AI's current architecture, arguing that larger datasets and more GPUs won’t solve fundamental design flaws. Meta’s research now explores models that learn like animals by processing real-world video—mimicking how a baby learns.

• LeCun dismisses AGI predictions as “premature,” poking fun at OpenAI’s lofty timelines.
• Current models excel at pattern prediction but can’t reason or plan.
• True progress, LeCun suggests, demands new AI architectures, not just scaling up.

In a world rushing toward AGI, LeCun's perspective asks us to think differently: Should we chase size, or shift our focus toward smarter, more adaptive AI?

Read the full article on Wall Street Journal.

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