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Fagner Brack
Fagner Brack

Posted on • Originally published at fagnerbrack.com on

Why AI Needs a Mental Model of the Physical World

Artificial intelligence has come a long way in recent years, with many breakthroughs in natural language processing, image recognition, and decision-making. However, practical differences between AI and humans still affect their ability to reason and make accurate conclusions. In this post, we will explore the importance of a mental model of the physical world for AI and how it can impact the accuracy of their answers.

The Limitations of AI

Unlike humans, AI models do not have a physical simulation of the world to compare against. This lack of a mental model of the physical world can limit the ability of AI to verify the accuracy of their responses. Even advanced AI models like ChatGPT can provide erroneous answers or assumptions, and nobody knows how the AI arrives at these conclusions. This is because the reasoning behind an answer cannot be debugged like regular software.

The Importance of a Mental Model of Physics

If the AI had the ability to test things in an internal simulation of the physical world, it could provide more accurate answers. With a mental model of the physical world, AI could verify assumptions like humans do when we verify an incorrect assumption made by AI to improve its accuracy in generating responses. This is because it would be able to simulate physical scenarios closer to how the human world works and test its conclusions against the results of those simulations.

The Next Big Jump

Inducing a mental model of the physical world in an AI’s artificial brain could be the next big jump in artificial intelligence. This would allow AI to simulate physical scenarios and test their assumptions, leading to more accurate conclusions. AI could even exceed human reasoning capabilities in some areas if they test against a mental model of the physical world.

Does it make sense?

The lack of a mental model of the physical world is a limitation of AI that affects its ability to verify assumptions and make accurate conclusions, which we humans do ourselves after interacting with AI. If AI can induce a mental model of the physical world in its artificial brain, it could significantly improve its accuracy and capability to reason and make predictions.

Has anyone thought about this before?

Thanks for reading. If you have feedback, contact me on Twitter, LinkedIn or Github.

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