Recent Examples on the Web

But while there’s a veneer of innocence to these home movies—an air of the idiot savant’s capacity to unwittingly capture a glimpse of profundity—their most powerful valence is not one of innocence but of self-effacing knowledge. Leslie Jamison, The New York Review of Books, "Other Voices, Other Rooms," 29 Apr. 2020

On the one hand, this understanding of AI as an idiot savant is perfectly sensible. James Vincent, The Verge, "Burger King’s ‘AI-written’ ads show we’re still very confused about artificial intelligence," 3 Oct. 2018

Similarly, Yang's character Jian Yang is portrayed as an idiot savant, a mostly silent character there for Erlich (T.J. Miller, who was fired from the show) to mock. Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, "Actually, HBO's Silicon Valley Doesn't Have To Be So White," 7 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'idiot savant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.