How Causal Inference Can Lead To Real Intelligence In Machines

Last year, the machine learning community was thrown into disarray when its top minds Yann LeCun, Ali Rahimi and Judea Pearl had a faceoff on the state of artificial intelligence and machine learning. While Rahimi and Pearl tried to tone down the hype around AI, LeCun was aghast over the scepticism around intelligence and causality of the models. I see dozens of "Data Science Institutes" erected across the country, I read their manifestos and I check their advisory boards. Causality does not seem to be on their agenda. Which makes one doubt whether the Ladder has been internalized and where this hype will end.