Elon Musk: 1; Yann LeCun: 1; Humanity: 0
We recorded 8 claims from this post. 2 were checked against evidence. 6 can’t be checked. 3 more are held. Read the post at its source.
Claims from this post (8)
In the order they appear in the post. Each quotation is the speaker’s words in this post. A label such as “Supported” or “Can’t be checked” is the claim’s current assessment; its page has the evidence and the reasons.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
“we need more science if we are to get to AGI.”
What we tested: Reaching AGI requires more basic science.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
“Right now we have a lot of engineering and alchemy, but not enough basic principles and formal understanding.”
What we tested: Right now AI has a lot of engineering and alchemy but not enough basic principles and formal understanding.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
“AI needs more science, but it needs engineering, too.”
What we tested: AI needs more science as well as engineering.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
“On the other hand, the chatbots of both X.ai and Meta still seem to me to be wildly inadequate, hallucinatory machines that merely hint at what AI could be, but with precious little understanding of the concepts underlying the words they so fluently use.”
What we tested: To Marcus, the chatbots of X.ai and Meta still seem to be wildly inadequate, hallucinatory machines that merely hint at what AI could be and have precious little understanding of the concepts behind the words they fluently use.
Assessment: UnresolvedSaid
“And oops, Grok’s basic understanding of time is shaky, too:”
What we tested: Grok has a shaky basic understanding of time.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
“Both Musk and LeCun (via Meta) command massive budgets to explore AI; I am not convinced that either is making real progress.”
What we tested: Marcus is not convinced that either Musk's xAI or Meta is making real AI progress despite massive budgets.
Assessment: UnresolvedSaid
“Musk is just building bigger and bigger LLMs, and Meta is mostly (despite LeCun’s reservations) mostly doing the same.”
What we tested: Musk's xAI is just building bigger LLMs, and Meta is mostly doing the same.
Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid
“Musk and LeCun may have the soapboxes and the money, but what we really need is a breakthrough.”
What we tested: What AI really needs is a breakthrough, not just money and publicity.
Held from this post (3)
These records did not pass every check, so nothing about them is published. Held is not a finding.
- The two reviews reached different assessments. Our reading, not assessed: Based on trying it yesterday, Marcus says Grok has its moments but can be pretty dismal too.
- The two reviews read the claim differently
- The record does not meet the current rules. Our reading, not assessed: Grok is frequently wrong, gives inconsistent answers to the same question, and is never in doubt.