AI’s understanding and reasoning skills can’t be assessed by current tests

Claims that large language models have humanlike cognitive abilities prove tough to verify

An illustration of a humanoid presenting manifestation of artificial intelligence taking tests while surrounded by "A+"s and "100/100"s on graded tests. Behind it are two researchers in a classroom watching the AI take its tests.

AI performs well on cognitive benchmarks, but how do we know if it really understands?

Glenn Harvey

“Sparks of artificial general intelligence,” “near-human levels of comprehension,” “top-tier reasoning capacities.” All of these phrases have been used to describe large language models, which drive generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT.