Yann LeCun? Demis Hassabis? Bence Ölveczky? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: Progress on artificial intelligence during the 2010s and 2020s has been remarkable. The AlphaFold computer program developed by DeepMind employed machine learning techniques with deep neural networks to successfully predict protein structures. The AlphaGo program used a tree search algorithm together with deep neural networks to beat the best humans at the board game Go. The company OpenAI used large language models (LLMs) and reinforcement learning to build the GPT family of chatbots which displayed powerful new capabilities.
Yet, the prominent computer scientist Yann LeCun has expressed skepticism about current progress in AI and about the near-term prospects. LeCun is a Professor at New York University and the Chief AI Scientist at Meta. He won the prestigious Turing Award in 2018 together with two colleagues.
LeCun stated that researchers must first reach cat-level AI and dog-level AI before they have a chance of reaching human-level AI. I am not sure of his precise phrasing. Would you please help me to find a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In February 2023 Yann LeCun posted the following message on x-twitter. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Before we reach Human-Level AI (HLAI), we will have to reach Cat-Level & Dog-Level AI.
We are nowhere near that.
We are still missing something big.
LLM’s linguistic abilities notwithstanding.
A house cat has way more common sense and understanding of the world than any LLM.
Yann LeCun has been referring to animal intelligence as an important AI benchmark for several years. For example, in 2018 he posted an x-tweet containing the following lines:2
Right now, we need to get machines to the level of a house cat.
Never mind symbolic mathematics and formal logic.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 2010 U.S. television network NBC reported that researchers had initiated a project to create a digital system with cat-level intelligence:3
Pentagon-backed scientists aim to create a human-like machine, at some point. But they are starting out with the goal of crafting artificial intelligence on the level of a cat’s brain. Still there are vast challenges.
If they get far enough, however, one scientist says that they could theoretically achieve feline intelligence with a mouse-sized artificial brain and an even smaller body.
In May 2020 LeCun posted the following lines on x-twitter:4
1. We shouldn’t talk about AGI because there is no such thing as general intelligence.
2. Our current AI methods are nowhere near approaching the learning abilities of a cat. Let alone a human.
3. Human-level AI is decades away
In December 2020 LeCun posted the following on x-twitter:5
There are many computer systems whose performance far exceeds humans doing the same task.
All of them are highly specialized.
None of them can do anywhere close to *all* the tasks that even a house cat can do, let alone a human.
In March 2021 LeCun posted the following:6
For the time being, my model/target for AI is cat intelligence (non linguistic, non social).
We can upgrade to dog, ape and human once we figure out the basics for cat.
That’s why I don’t see language and symbolic reasoning as the 1st obstacles to clear.
But SSL & planning are.
In February 2023 Yann LeCun posted about animal-level intelligence as mentioned at the beginning of this article:
Before we reach Human-Level AI (HLAI), we will have to reach Cat-Level & Dog-Level AI.
We are nowhere near that.
In June 2024 “The Harvard Gazette” reported on researchers who were creating a digital system displaying rat-level intelligence:7
To help probe the mystery of how brains control and coordinate it all, Harvard neuroscientists have created a virtual rat with an artificial brain that can move around just like a real rodent.
Bence Ölveczky, professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, led a group of researchers who collaborated with scientists at Google’s DeepMind AI lab to build a biomechanically realistic digital model of a rat. Using high-resolution data recorded from real rats, they trained an artificial neural network — the virtual rat’s “brain” — to control the virtual body in a physics simulator called MuJoco, where gravity and other forces are present. And the results are promising.
In July 2024 Demis Hassabis who is the head of Google’s artificial intelligence division mentioned cat-level intelligence during an interview:8
Of course, at the moment we’re far from human level intelligence across the board, but in certain areas like games playing we’re better than the best people in the world.
Now, the question is what will happen overall when we start generalizing this. But at the moment we’re still not even at cat intelligence, yet, as a general system. So we got a long way to go.
In conclusion, for several years Yann LeCun has posted about the necessity of achieving cat-level AI as a crucial step toward achieving human-level AI. Pertinent x-tweets occurred in 2018, 2020, and later.
Image Notes: Public domain illustration of a robot cat in a forest. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- X-Tweet, From: Yann LeCun @ylecun, Timestamp: 1:25 PM – Feb 5, 2023, Text: Before we reach Human-Level AI… (Accessed on x.com on July 10, 2024) link ↩︎
- X-Tweet, From: Yann LeCun @ylecun, Timestamp: 2:48 PM – Dec 8, 2018, Text: …Right now, we need to get machines… (Accessed on x.com on July 12, 2024) link ↩︎
- Website: NBC News, Article title: Scientists work on artificial cat brain, Article author: Jeremy Hsu, Date on website: April 30, 2010, Website description: News from U.S. television network NBC. (Accessed nbcnews.com on July 13, 2024) link ↩︎
- X-Tweet, From: Yann LeCun @ylecun, Timestamp: 1:48 PM – May 27, 2020, Text: …Human-level AI is decades away… (Accessed on x.com on July 12, 2024) link ↩︎
- X-Tweet, From: Yann LeCun @ylecun, Timestamp: 11:40 AM – Dec 20, 2020, Text: …tasks that even a house cat can do… (Accessed on x.com on July 12, 2024) link ↩︎
- X-Tweet, From: Yann LeCun @ylecun, Timestamp: 1:13 PM – Mar 10, 2021, Text: …target for AI is cat intelligence… (Accessed on x.com on July 12, 2024) link ↩︎
- Website: The Harvard Gazette, Article title: Want to make robots more agile? Take a lesson from a rat, Article author: Anne J. Manning (Harvard Staff Writer), Date on website: June 11, 2024, Website description: The Harvard Gazette is the official news website for Harvard University. (Accessed harvard.edu on July 13, 2024) link ↩︎
- YouTube video, Title: Tony Blair and Demis Hassabis Discuss the Opportunities of AI, Uploaded on July 9, 2024, Uploaded by: Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, (Quotation starts at 18 minute 52 seconds of 24 minutes 9 seconds) (Description: Interview recorded July 9, 2024 of Demis Hassabis who is the head of Google’s artificial intelligence division. The interview occurred during the Future of Britain Conference 2024) (Accessed on youtube.com on July 12, 2024) link ↩︎