Magzter GOLDで無制限に

Magzter GOLDで無制限に

10,000以上の雑誌、新聞、プレミアム記事に無制限にアクセスできます。

$149.99
 
$74.99/年

試す - 無料

How do we know how smart AI really is?

PC Pro

|

December 2024

Maths questions. Silly word puzzles. Counting the letter "r" in a sentence. Nicole Kobie reveals how we're trying to work out exactly how intelligent AI is

- Nicole Kobie

How do we know how smart AI really is?

As AI becomes increasingly competent at answering emails, making funny pictures and solving complicated science problems that have long stumped us humans, it raises a question: how smart is it really? And we're not sure how to answer that yet.

The goal of companies such as OpenAI isn't to ease the lives of office workers - though that draws investors such as Microsoft, hence the sudden focus on productivity tools - but to build artificial general intelligence (AGI). This is defined in a multitude of ways, but OpenAI describes it as "highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work".

Alongside AGI, we have ideas such as human-level AI, expert AI and superintelligent Al. All have slightly different definitions depending on who you listen to, but the point is to create a machine that can do what humans can, before moving well beyond what we can do. (There's also a side idea of whether AI is sentient, but that's a whole other problem.) Now, to be clear, we don't yet have AGI and we may never be technically capable of building it - even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said another breakthrough in AI is likely required before AGI could become possible.

Semantics and timelines aside, how do we know if AI is as smart as us? The Turing test is one long-running technique for rating machine intelligence, but it's now fallen by the wayside due to its limited focus on language and conversation. Academic exams are used as benchmarks, to see if AI can reason and apply knowledge like a college student. But perhaps we need new ways to quiz our future AI overlords and a few are in the works, including the dramatically named "Humanity's Last Exam".

Turing then and now

Alan Turing laid out the idea for what is now known as the Turing test in a 1950 paper, calling it the "imitation game".

PC Pro からのその他のストーリー

PC Pro

How connected tech could fix roads

Oceans of data, AI-managed traffic signals and more autonomous cars on the road all have the potential to make our roads safer.

time to read

9 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

"I'm an evil system tester, thinking up software-breaking situations, and this occasion was no different"

What would life be like without Google if its services were unavailable due to a deliberate act of sabotage?

time to read

9 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

"Ransomware is an extortion racket, and the people behind it are as caring as the Kray twins"

Guilty: it's another column about ransomware, but this one is different as Davey asks whether the government is right to ban ransom payments

time to read

8 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

Synology DiskStation DS1525+

A well-priced and powerful desktop NAS with top performance and heaps of data protection features

time to read

3 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

LENOVO THINKSTATION P5 TOWER

Great design, but Intel's Xeon can't compete with AMD's processors

time to read

2 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

Will Intel ever be back in the workstation market?

Certainly not this year. But there are promising signs for next year, if Intel hits all its claims - and assuming AMD doesn't jump ahead once more

time to read

4 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

Commodore: The comeback

David Crookes looks at how a once powerful and influential tech brand hopes to shine once more, including an exclusive interview with Commodore's new owner

time to read

8 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

Real world computing

\"I think cynicism is a good thing. And blunt sarcasm has been my trademark for 30 years\". New age-verification laws for 18+ sites raise questions about the trust we can place in third-party services that promise not to keep our data

time to read

10 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

Six things to look for in a workstation

There are few bigger and more important investments to make than a new workstation, or a fleet of them. Here's what you need to consider before taking the plunge

time to read

8 mins

October 2025

PC Pro

PC Pro

IDrive RemotePC Enterprise

Secure cloud-hosted remote support that's easy to use, very versatile and incredible value for larger businesses

time to read

2 mins

October 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size