Artificial intelligence is now smart enough to be accepted into most Japanese universities.



The National Institute of Informatics of Japan said last week that its AI program, developed with university and corporate researchers, achieved an above-average score on a college entrance exam for the first time. The test covered five subjects including Math, Physics and English.



The institute has been seeking to develop an AI by 2021 that would be able to score high enough on Japan’s standardised college entrance exam to be accepted into the University of Tokyo, the nation’s top-ranked university.



The AI received a score of 511 points out of 950, above the national average of 416, and did exceptionally well in math and history-related problems, the institute said. With that score, the AI has at least an 80 per cent chance of being accepted to 441 private universities and 33 national universities, according to the institute.



The software program had been cramming for the exam since 2011 but had below-average scores on similar exams in 2013 and 2014. Still, there is a long way to go for the AI to join the University of Tokyo, whose list of alumni includes Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.



While the AI was smart enough to answer some of the questions in the physics test, it failed to do so and scored below average because of its insufficient language-processing capability, NII’s spokesman said.



The effort at developing the AI is aimed at “raising the accuracy of the artificial intelligence techniques accumulated so far, and, together with external researchers, deepen our understanding of human thought,” the institute says on its website.



Source: www.blogs.wsj.com

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