--- title: "AI Can Pretend To Be Stupider Than It Really Is, Scientists Find" description: "A new study suggests that advanced AI models are pretty good at playing dumb — which might have massive implications as they get smarter." date: "2024-04-09" modified: "2024-04-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-plays-dumb" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "agi" - "artificial superintelligence" - "the digest" - "theory of mind" --- # AI Can Pretend To Be Stupider Than It Really Is, Scientists Find ![A new study suggests that advanced AI models are pretty good at playing dumb — which might have massive implications as they get smarter.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Psychobabble A new study suggests that advanced AI models are pretty good at acting dumber than they are — which might have massive implications as they continue to get smarter. Published in the [journal *PLOS One*](), researchers from Berlin's Humboldt University found that when testing out a large language model (LLM) on so-called "theory of mind" criteria, they found that not only can AI mimic the language learning stages exhibited in children, but seem to express something akin to the mental capabilities related to those stages as well. In an [interview with *PsyPost*](), Humboldt University research assistant and main study author Anna Maklová, who also happens to be a psycholinguistics expert, explained how her field of study relates to the fascinating finding. "Thanks to psycholinguistics, we have a relatively comprehensive understanding of what children are capable of at various ages," Marklová told the outlet. "In particular, the theory of mind plays a significant role, as it explores the inner world of the child and is not easily emulated by observing simple statistical patterns." ## Dumb It Down With a children-oriented theory of mind as a backdrop, the researcher and her colleagues at Charles University in Prague sought to determine if LLMs like OpenAI's GPT-4 "can pretend to be less capable than they are." To figure that out, the mostly-Czech research team instructed the models to act like a child between the progressive ages of one to six years when giving responses. When put through a battery of more than 1,000 trials and cognitive tests, these "simulated child personas" did indeed seem to be advancing much the same as children those ages do — and, ultimately, demonstrated that the models can pretend to be less intelligent than they are. "Large language models," Marklová concluded, "are capable of feigning lower intelligence than they possess." As the paper itself warns, anthropomorphizing AI, while perhaps a "useful shorthand" for understanding these models on human terms, is generally unhelpful. Instead, they're proposing a new theory of mind that shifts the paradigm from whether models are "good" or "bad" and "helpful" or "unhelpful" to how well they can "construct personas," such as the childlike ones from their experiments. Ultimately, as Maklová told the website, these findings could aid the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI), the next step after human-level artificial general intelligence (AGI) — and help make it safer once we do. "In the development of...ASI, we must be cautious not to demand that they emulate a human, and therefore limited, intelligence," she told *PsyPost*. "Additionally, it suggests that we may underestimate their capabilities for an extended period, which is not a safe situation." **More on smart AI:** [*Elon Musk Says That Within Two Years, AI Will Be "Smarter Than the Smartest Human"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()