Name: Can a robot pass a university entrance exam?
Uploaded: 2017-08-30T15:00:51Z
Duration: 13 min 27 s
Description: Meet Todai Robot, an AI project that performed in the top 20 percent of students on the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo -- without actually understanding a thing. While it's not matriculating anytime soon, Todai Robot's success raises alarming questions for the future of human education. How can we help kids excel at the things that humans will always do better than AI?

Meet Todai Robot, an AI project that performed in the top 20 percent of students on the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo -- without actually understanding a thing. While it's not matriculating anytime soon, Todai Robot's success raises alarming questions for the future of human education. How can we help kids excel at the things that humans will always do better than AI?

Can a robot pass a university entrance exam?

An artificial intelligence called Todai Robot ranked in the top 20 percent on Japan’s toughest university entrance exams, yet it cannot truly read or comprehend meaning. It pieced together essays from textbooks and solved complex math problems using algorithms, not understanding. One-third of junior high students failed simple reading comprehension that the robot could answer by pattern-matching, raising deep concerns about what schools are teaching. The real challenge is preparing humans to do what AI cannot—understand, reason, and make meaning.