Artificial intelligence is one step closer to world domination... that is, if you're of the opinion that robots will one day overtake humans. Japan's National Institute of Informatics recently revealed that its AI program has achieved an above-average score on the country's standardized college entrance exam.
As The Wall Street Journal explains, corporate and university researchers have been developing the AI program in question since 2011. This year, the program earned a score of 511 out of a possible 950. That's well above the national average of 416, the institute said, adding that it'd have an 80 percent chance of being accepted into 33 national universities and 441 private colleges.
Of the five subjects the test covers, the institute said its AI performed best in the categories of history and math. The software didn't do so hot in physics, however, due to shortcomings in processing language.
Digital Trends points to a similar feat just a few months ago in which an AI system from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the University of Washington was able to score a 500 out of 800 on the math portion of the SAT. That's slightly below the national average of 513 yet as the publication points out, that doesn't take into consideration the fact that the AI can read questions straight off the page versus having the information fed to it in a pre-processed format.
The ultimate goal is to raise the accuracy of the artificial intelligence techniques developed thus far and to deepen the understanding of human thought. The institute hopes that by 2021, the AI will have enough smarts to get into the country's most prestigious school, the University of Tokyo. While lofty, it certainly seems like an obtainable target considering the advancements made in recent years.
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