The limits of LLMs are clear, and the criticisms are valid. They lack true reasoning, a genuine grasp of cause and effect, and often hallucinate. This sparks the great debate in AI: can we achieve AGI simply by scaling these models to unimaginable sizes, triggering a dramatic emergence of intelligence? Or do we need fundamentally new models capable of genuine reasoning and understanding reality?
Perhaps the best way to view LLMs is as the Neanderthals of the AI world.
Neanderthals were not primitive brutes; they were the apex of their era. They were intelligent, adaptable, and masters of their domain. Similarly, LLMs represent the peak of our current capabilities. Yet, Neanderthals were not the final form of humanity. They were eventually succeeded by Homo Sapiens, a species with superior abstract thought and planning.
In the same way, LLMs, for all their power, are not the final form of AI. They will inevitably be succeeded by new models capable of the true reasoning and abstract planning they currently lack. And just as Neanderthal DNA lives on within us, the foundational principles of LLMs will forever be part of AGI's architecture.
Ultimately, LLMs are not the destination. They are the inevitable path, the absolute foundation, and the necessary ancestor on the journey to AGI. We must pass through their era to reach our own Homo Sapiens.
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