The question of how long it will take for AI to become like the human brain is often asked. Now, some experts have answered this question, including Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI.
At the FT Future of AI Summit in London, the world’s leading AI experts debated a single question: When will machines become as intelligent as humans? The answers were inconsistent. Some said 20 years, some said 5 years, and some even argued the question was wrong. These experts are the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize winners. They included Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, Fei-Fei Li, Jensen Huang, Yoshua Bengio, and Bill Daly. Let’s find out what the experts said and what they believe about when AI will surpass humans.
Hinton claims AI will resemble the human brain in less than 20 years
The Indian Express reports that Geoffrey Hinton is known as the Godfather of AI. He said that if we talk about AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), we will reach there in less than 20 years. He explained that if we argue with a machine, it will always win. This will happen in 20 years. Hinton created a small language model in 1984. It contained only 100 examples. He said, “We lacked computer power and data. Now we have both.”
Bengio said – work like employees in 5 years
Yoshua Bengio said that the power of AI has grown exponentially in the last six years. If this pace continues, AI will be able to do the work of an employee in five years. But he cautioned that the future is uncertain. Let’s not make big claims; there are many possibilities.
Lekun’s answer – AI’s power will gradually increase
Yann LeCun, Meta’s main AI scientist, said that this won’t be a one-off event. AI’s power will grow gradually. New methods will emerge in the next 5-10 years, but it will take time. He added that AI isn’t even as smart as a cat right now. It’s not just about data and money, it’s about science.
Fei-Fei Li – The human brain and AI have different goals
Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li said that AI surpasses humans in some tasks, such as recognising 22,000 objects or translating 100 languages. But it’s weak in understanding space. The human brain perceives the world; AI doesn’t. The two are designed for different purposes.
Is AI a bubble or a beginning?
The panel also discussed the AI boom. Huang said that during the dotcom era, fibre was idle, but today every GPU is being used. AI works and saves labour. Lekun said that LLMs won’t bring human intelligence; it’s a myth.
