AI is Smarter Than You, But That’s Not Saying Much

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has achieved remarkable feats, from passing bar exams and medical boards to acing SATs and scoring like a genius on IQ tests. However, it’s important to remember that AI doesn’t think the way we do. In fact, for some definitions of ‘think’, it doesn’t think at all.

The Limitations of AI

AI can make unexpected mistakes, such as adding extra limbs to animals in generated images or hallucinating facts and supporting references. These are errors that a human or even an animal with lived experience would never make. In the three-dimensional real world, objects cannot pass through each other like ghosts. While an AI can tell you this in text, it often violates this rule in practice because it doesn’t understand it holistically the way we do.

The Risks of Relying on AI

As AI continues to improve in areas like text construction, photorealistic image generation, full-motion video, invention, and other tasks we consider requiring intelligence, the danger of relying on its ‘common sense’ and the facticity of its output rises. Imagine an AI designing a nuclear facility with a perfectly operating emergency ‘off button’. However, the AI also constructs a robot that, although it looks human, has a hand constructed so it cannot push the button. Despite testing every other conceivable thing in simulation, missing that one vital point could spell disaster.

The Subtlety of AI Mistakes

We can spot many of the mistakes that AI makes, but some strange ones can slip past us. For instance, an AI company recently released dramatically accomplished 3D videos wholly generated by AI. One of the videos, which many were particularly impressed with, had a brief section where a cat had a third arm. Its manifestation was subtle enough that nobody caught it until it was in wide distribution.

Conclusion

As AI continues to get better at things, the danger that things will both slip past and be problematic when they do increases. Don’t be fooled by the impressive achievements of AI. It’s smarter than you in some ways, but that’s not saying much. Always remember that AI, no matter how advanced, lacks the holistic understanding and common sense that come naturally to humans.