AsianFin – Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, has made a striking comparison between the IQ levels of artificial intelligence (AI) agents and domestic cats.

“We’re still not even at cat intelligence yet, as a general system,” Hassabis remarked during a discussion about DeepMind’s progress in artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Despite this, research is advancing rapidly, propelled by substantial financial and computational investments. Some experts predict that AI intelligence could surpass human intelligence within the next five years.

Hassabis, who is also a co-founder of Google DeepMind, made this comparison in a public conversation with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Future of Britain Conference 2024.

Hassabis emphasized that his work is primarily focused on AGI, offering a perspective on the comparison between AI and cat intelligence. While contemporary AI can perform tasks such as writing, painting, or composing music in a convincingly human-like manner, an ordinary house cat possesses a higher level of general intelligence.

“At the moment, we’re far from human-level intelligence across the board,” Hassabis admitted. “But in certain areas like game playing, [AI is] better than the best people in the world.”