Prominent AI Researcher Takes Critical Look at DeepMind

Artificial Intelligence  

According to Ben Goertzel, "100 smart guys working together toward pure & applied AGI, with savvy leadership and Google's resources at their disposal, is nothing to be sneered at....   But still, let's not overblow what they've achieved so far....." What else does he think about DeepMind?

In the past few months, the work of DeepMind has been recognized for the major advances they have made in the field of artificial intelligence. The UK-based company was even acquired by Google last year for  $400 million dollars, after only a few years of operation. DeepMind's recursive learning algorithms, which are partly based on the neuroscience research of company founder Demis Hassabis, have so far proven to be very adept at learning to play 1980's video games at superhuman levels all by themselves. This work has been well received by the press and other AI researchers, with many pointing to Google and DeepMind being on the cusp of artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Ben Goertzel, another leading AI researcher offers a more muted view of Hassabis and co's work however. "So far as I can tell there's nothing big and new there," Goertzel writes on his blog. Referring to a recent talk given by Hassabis (embedded below), Goertzel states, "Demis describes Deep Mind's well-known work on reinforcement learning and video games, and then mentions their (already published) work on Neural Turing Machines...  Nothing significant seems to be mentioned beyond what has already been published and publicized previously..."

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"Nothing significant seems to be mentioned beyond what has already been published and publicized previously."

Goertzel and the main researchers behind DeepMind are very familiar with each other's work. They were both speakers at the 2010 Singularity Summit hosted by Ray Kurzweil.

"Demis, Shane Legg and many other Deep Mind researchers are known to me to be brilliant people with a true passion for AGI," continues Goertzel.  "What they're doing is fantastic!   However, currently none of their results look anywhere close to human-level AGI; and the design details that they've disclosed don't come anywhere near to being a comprehensive plan for building an AGI."

Goertzel suggests that his own AI initiative, OpenCog could yield a working AGI framework faster than DeepMind. "With an open source approach properly orchestrated and managed we could get 500-1000 people -- academics, professional developers, hobbyists -- or more actively and aggressively working together, thus far outpacing what even Google Deep Mind can do."

By 33rd Square

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