Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has continued to discuss the rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI), arguing that the technology is steadily outperforming humans even in ways that many people do not think.
According to Buterin, people have long compared the capabilities of humans and AI using a single measure, such as intelligence or economic productivity.
However, he believes that this single measure of comparison is misleading, suggesting that people are comparing AI to humans in the wrong way.
Buterin discusses human vs AI capabilities
In his latest assertions, Vitalik Buterin has suggested that both humans and AI should be viewed as possessing a broad range of capabilities.
These range from physical tasks like walking and doing things with their hands to cognitive skills such as strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and mental math.
To further support his claims, Buterin referenced the year 1500, when machines could only outperform humans in a few specialized tasks.
He cited watermills and windmills as examples, noting that they were far better than people at utilizing natural energy, but humans remained superior across almost every other area.
Buterin says AI is expanding
Nonetheless, the Ethereum founder mentioned that today's AI systems are following a similar pattern but on a much larger scale. He believes that they are surpassing humans even in ways that go beyond what we currently think.
Buterin explained that AI is gradually expanding into more domains rather than replacing humans overnight, as it is surpassing people in one capability after another as the technology improves.
As such, Buterin thinks that the evolution of AI should be measured by the growing number of tasks it can perform well, rather than by asking whether it has become "smarter" than humans overall.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
