AI, the brain, and cognitive plausibility

By Rich Heimann

Is AI about the brain? 

The answer is often, but not always. Many insiders and most outsiders believe that if a solution looks like a brain, it might act as the brain. If a solution acts like a brain, then the solution will solve other problems like humans solve other problems. What insiders have learned is that solutions that are not cognitively plausible teach them nothing about intelligence or at least nothing more than before they started. This is the driving force behind connectionism and artificial neural networks. 

That is also why problem-specific solutions designed to actually play to their strengths—strengths that are not psychologically or cognitively plausible—fall short of artificial intelligence. For example, Deep Blue is not “real” AI because it is not cognitively plausible and will not solve other problems. The accomplishment, while profound, is an achievement in problem-solving, not intelligence. Nevertheless, chess-playing programs like Deep Blue have shown that the human mind can no longer claim superiority over a computer on this task.

Read the full article on TechTalks. 

For more:

• The age of AI-ism

• DeepMind: Reinforcement learning is enough for general AI

• Why lifeless AI is not intelligent

• Building artificial intelligence: Reward is not enough