The Man Out to Prove How Dumb AI Still Is

They want to build AI models that achieve "artificial general intelligence," or AGI--matching or exceeding the capabilities of the human mind. The difference between these two men is that Altman has suggested that his company, OpenAI, has practically built the technology already. Chollet, a French computer scientist and one of the industry's sharpest skeptics, has said that notion is "absolutely clown shoes." When I spoke with him earlier this year, Chollet told me that AI companies have long been "intellectually lazy" in suggesting that their machines are on the path to a kind of supreme knowledge. At this point, those claims are based largely on the programs' ability to pass specific tests (such as the LSAT, Advanced Placement Biology, and even an introductory sommelier exam).