I struggled at first to see the analogy being made to AI here. In case it helps others, here is my interpretation:
Near-future (or current ?) LLMs are the planes here, humans are the birds.
These LLMs will soon be able to perform many of the most important cognitive functions that humans can do. In the analogy, these are the flying-related functions that planes perform.
As with current LLMs, there will always be certain tasks that humans are better at, such as motor control or humor. That’s because humans are highly specialized for certain tasks that aren’t actually necessary for most capabilities.
We shouldn’t conclude from the fact that birds can do things that planes can’t, that we haven’t “solved flying.” Similarly, just because LLMs can’t do everything humans can , that doesn’t mean we haven’t “solved intelligence.”
I struggled at first to see the analogy being made to AI here. In case it helps others, here is my interpretation:
Near-future (or current ?) LLMs are the planes here, humans are the birds.
These LLMs will soon be able to perform many of the most important cognitive functions that humans can do. In the analogy, these are the flying-related functions that planes perform.
As with current LLMs, there will always be certain tasks that humans are better at, such as motor control or humor. That’s because humans are highly specialized for certain tasks that aren’t actually necessary for most capabilities.
We shouldn’t conclude from the fact that birds can do things that planes can’t, that we haven’t “solved flying.” Similarly, just because LLMs can’t do everything humans can , that doesn’t mean we haven’t “solved intelligence.”
This gets me thinking … how hard would it be to train an LLM on the task of mansplaining?