The Gates Foundation Grants $2.7M to Jeff Hawkins' Numenta

Bill Gates is supporting Jeff Hawkins, co-inventor of the PalmPilot, in the pursuit of artificial general intelligence through his firm Numenta. The Gates Foundation awarded $2.7 million to Numenta to develop software reflecting Hawkins' brain-inspired AI concept. Hawkins believes mimicking the neocortex's functions will lead to breakthroughs in building intelligent machines. He criticizes current AI systems for their limitations and advocates for sensorimotor-type AI to address global health issues. Hawkins aims to move beyond large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, emphasizing the need for more brain-like AI approaches. Despite skepticism, Hawkins is determined to implement his theories through the Thousand Brains Project, attracting researchers to explore new AI avenues. While scientific understanding of the brain is incomplete, Hawkins' ideas offer insights for crafting algorithms that better comprehend the world. Critics question the scalability and intelligence of LLMs, highlighting the ongoing debate in the AI community about the path to achieving artificial general intelligence.