Robots Are Basically Teenagers -- They Ace Video Games and Barely Pass Math Tests They are more human than we think.
By Nina Zipkin
The question of when and how robots will eventually take all of our jobs is perennially up for grabs. It would appear that we're safe for now -- our potential overlords seem more like average high school students at the moment than terminators.
Earlier this month, a robot called AI-MATHS created by Chengdu Zhunxingyunxue Technology took the math portion of China's national college entrance test.
It completed the version given to students in Beijing in 22 minutes and got a score of 105 points out of 150 points. This was an improvement on the robot's showing from February when it got a 93. The minimum passing grade is a 90.
Related: I Had a Conversation With a Robot, and It Taught Me Something About Humanity
Chengdu Zhunxingyunxue Technology's CEO Lin Hui told Xinhuanet that it hopes AI-MATHS will have better luck next year. "It would take two hours for a human to finish the test. I hope next year the machine can improve its performance on logical reasoning and computer algorithms and score over 130."
The robot is being designed to get accepted into Chinese institutions of higher learning such as Peking University and Tsinghua University. The test is no joke -- average high school students in China generally study for the test by answering 30,000 questions -- the robot so far has 12,000 questions under its belt.
Related: Bill Gates Believes Robots That Steal Jobs Should Pay Taxes
But while AI-MATHS is cramming (fine, machine learning) for the big exam, an AI system developed by Malubba, which was recently acquired by Microsoft, just crushed the competition in beloved 1980s game Ms. Pac-Man.
It got a perfect score of 999,990 points. Apparently the unpredictability of the game makes it an ideal training ground for artificial intelligence because it allows the machines to learn by trial and error to get to the best result.
And isn't that what growing up is all about?
