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What Richard Sutton thinks about measuring intelligence

@richard-sutton · 25 positions · 0 changes of mind

Computer scientist who founded the field of reinforcement learning, co-author of the standard textbook, and winner of the 2024 Turing Award.

Richard Sutton did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

3 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Richard Sutton has said — not written or endorsed by them.

3 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingWhat humans have in common with animals is the interesting part of intelligence; what distinguishes us deserves less attention, not more.

    Their wordsWhy are you trying to distinguish humans? Humans are animals. What we have in common is more interesting. What distinguishes us, we should be paying less attention to.

    ↗Richard Sutton – Father of RL thinks LLMs are a dead endyoutube.com 1st of 25 in this recording

  3. Our readingHaving a goal is the essence of intelligence; a system that only predicts is a behaving system, not an intelligent one.

    Their wordsFor me, having a goal is the essence of intelligence

    ↗Richard Sutton – Father of RL thinks LLMs are a dead endyoutube.com 5th of 25 in this recording

  5. Our readingIf we understood a squirrel we would be almost all the way to understanding human intelligence; language is a small veneer on the surface.

    Their wordsif we understood a squirrel I think we'd have a we'd be almost all the way there to understanding human intelligence. The the language part is just a a small veneer on the surface.

    ↗Richard Sutton – Father of RL thinks LLMs are a dead endyoutube.com 11th of 25 in this recording