Chief AI Scientist at Meta Yann LeCun spoke at the Viva Tech conference in Paris and said that artificial intelligence does not currently have human-level intelligence but could do one day.
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Current artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT do not have human-level intelligence and are barely smarter than a dog, Meta’s AI chief said, as the debate over the dangers of the fast-growing technology rages on.
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is based on a so-called large language model. This means that the AI system was trained on huge amounts of language data that allows a user to prompt it with questions and requests, while the chatbot replies in language we understand.
At the Viva Tech conference on Wednesday, Jacques Attali, a French economic and social theorist who writes about technology, said whether AI is good or bad will depend on its use.
“If you use AI to develop more fossil fuels, it will be terrible. If you use AI [to] develop more terrible weapons, it will be terrible,” Attali said. “On the contrary, AI can be amazing for health, amazing for education, amazing for culture.”
At the same panel, Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Facebook parent Meta, was asked about the current limitations of AI. He focused on generative AI trained on large language models, saying they are not very intelligent, because they are solely coached on language.
“Those systems are still very limited, they don’t have any understanding of the underlying reality of the real world, because they are purely trained on text, massive amount of text,” LeCun said.
“Most of human knowledge has nothing to do with language … so that part of the human experience is not captured by AI.”
LeCun added that an AI system could now pass the Bar in the U.S., an examination required for someone to become an attorney. However, he said AI can’t load a dishwasher, which a 10-year old could “learn in 10 minutes.”
“What it tells you we are missing something really big … to reach not just human level intelligence, but even dog intelligence,” LeCun concluded.
Meta’s AI chief said the company is working on training AI on video, rather than just on language, which is a tougher task.
In another example of current AI limitations, he said a five-month-old baby would look at an object floating and not think too much of it. However, a nine-month year old baby would look at this item and be surprised, as it realizes that an object shouldn’t float.
LeCun said we have “no idea how to reproduce this capacity with machines today. Until we can do this, we are not going to have human-level intelligence, we are not going to have dog level or cat level [intelligence].”
Will robots take over?
Striking a pessimistic tone about the future, Attali said, “It is well known mankind is facing many dangers in the next three or four decades.”
He noted climate disasters and war among his top concerns, also noting he is worried that robots “will turn against us.”
During the conversation, Meta’s LeCun said that, in the future, there will be machines that are more intelligent than humans, which should not be seen as posing a danger.
“We should not see this as a threat, we should see this as something very beneficial. Every one of us will have an AI assistant … it will be like a staff to assist you in your daily life that is smarter than yourself,” LeCun said.
The scientist added that these AI systems need to be created as “controllable and basically subservient to humans.” He also dismissed the notion that robots would take over the world.
“A fear that has been popularized by science fictions [is], that if robots are smarter than us, they are going to want to take over the world … there is no correlation between being smart and wanting to take over,” LeCun said.
Ethics and regulation of A.I.
While looking at the dangers and opportunities of AI, Attali concluded that there need to be guardrails in place for the development of the technology. But he was unsure who would do that.
“Who is going to put the borders?,” he asked.
AI regulation has been a hot topic at Viva Tech. The European Union is pushing forward with its own AI legislation, while France’s top government ministers told CNBC this week that the country wants to see global regulation of the technology.
Signage at 23andMe headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021.
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The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating 23andMe‘s decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has expressed concern that its sensitive genetic data is “at risk of being compromised,” CNBC has learned.
Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and Rep. Gary Palmer, R.-Ala., sent a letter to 23andMe’s interim CEO Joe Selsavage on Thursday requesting answers to a series of questions about its data and privacy practices by May 1.
The congressmen are the latest government officials to raise concerns about 23andMe’s commitment to data security, as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Federal Trade Commission have sent the company similar letters in recent weeks.
23andMe exploded into the mainstream with its at-home DNA testing kits that gave customers insight into their family histories and genetic profiles. The company was once valued at a peak of $6 billion, but has since struggled to generate recurring revenue and establish a lucrative research and therapeutics businesses.
After filing for bankruptcy in in Missouri federal court in March, 23andMe’s assets, including its vast genetic database, are up for sale.
“With the lack of a federal comprehensive data privacy and security law, we write to express our great concern about the safety of Americans’ most sensitive personal information,” Guthrie, Bilirakis and Palmer wrote in the letter.
23andMe did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
More CNBC health coverage
23andMe has been inundated with privacy concerns in recent years after hackers accessed the information of nearly 7 million customers in 2023.
DNA data is particularly sensitive because each person’s sequence is unique, meaning it can never be fully anonymized, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. If genetic data falls into the hands of bad actors, it could be used to facilitate identity theft, insurance fraud and other crimes.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has jurisdiction over issues involving data privacy. Guthrie serves as the chairman of the committee, Palmer serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and Bilirakis serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.
The congressmen said that while Americans’ health information is protected under legislation like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, direct-to-consumer companies like 23andMe are typically not covered under that law. They said they feel “great concern” about the safety of the company’s customer data, especially given the uncertainty around the sale process.
23andMe has repeatedly said it will not change how it manages or protects consumer data throughout the transaction. Similarly, in a March release, the company said all potential buyers must agree to comply with its privacy policy and applicable law.
“To constitute a qualified bid, potential buyers must, among other requirements, agree to comply with 23andMe’s consumer privacy policy and all applicable laws with respect to the treatment of customer data,” 23andMe said in the release.
23andMe customers can still delete their account and accompanying data through the company’s website. But Guthrie, Bilirakis and Palmer said there are reports that some users have had trouble doing so.
“Regardless of whether the company changes ownership, we want to ensure that customer access and deletion requests are being honored by 23andMe,” the congressmen wrote.
A motorcycle is seen near a building of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025.
“TSMC is not engaged in any discussion with other companies regarding any joint venture, technology licensing or technology,” CEO C.C. Wei said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, dispelling rumors about a collaboration with Intel.
Intel and TSMC were said to have been looking to form a JV as recently as this month. On April 3, The Information reported that the two firms discussed a preliminary agreement to form a tie-up to operate Intel’s chip factories with TSMC owning a 21% stake.
Intel was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Wei’s comments on Thursday. The company previously said it doesn’t comment on rumors, when asked by CNBC about the reported discussions.
TSMC’s denial of tie-up talks with Intel comes as President Donald Trump is pushing to address global trade imbalances and reshore manufacturing in the U.S. through tariffs. The Department of Commerce recently kicked off an investigation into semiconductor imports — a move that could result in new tariffs for the chip industry.
TSMC reported a profit beatfor the first quarter thanks to a continued surge in demand for AI chips. However, the company contends with potential headwinds from Trump’s tariffs — which target Taiwan — and stricter export controls on TSMC clients Nvidia and AMD.
A motorcycle is seen near a building of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025.
Here are TSMC’s first-quarter results versus LSEG consensus estimates:
Revenue: $839.25 billion New Taiwan dollars, vs. NT$835.13 billion expected
Net income: NT$361.56 billion, vs. NT$354.14 billion
TSMC’s reported net income increased 60.3% from a year ago to NT$361.56 billion, while net revenue in the March quarter rose 41.6% from a year earlier to NT$839.25 billion.
The world’s largest contract chip manufacturer has benefited from the AI boom as it produces advanced processors for clients such American chip designer Nvidia.
However, the company faces headwinds from the trade policy of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has placed broad trade tariffs on Taiwan and stricter export controls on TSMC clients Nvidia and AMD.
Semiconductor export controls could also be expanded next month under the “AI diffusion rules” first proposed by the Biden administration, further restricting the sales of chipmakers that use TSMC foundries.
Taiwan currently faces a blanket 10% tariff from the Trump administration and that could rise to 32% after the President’s 90-day pause of his “reciprocal tariffs” ends unless it reaches a deal with the U.S.
As part of efforts to diversify its supply chains, TSMC has been investing billions in overseas facilities, though the lion’s share of its manufacturing remains in Taiwan.
In an apparent response to Trump’s trade policy, TSMC last month announced plans to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. on top of the $65 billion it has committed to three plants in the U.S.
On Monday, AMD said it would soon manufacture processor chips at one of the new Arizona-based TSMC facilities, marking the first time that its chips will be manufactured in the U.S.
The same day, Nvidia announced that it has already started production of its Blackwell chips at TSMC’s Arizona plants. It plans to produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next four years through partners, including TSMC.
Taiwan-listed shares of TSMC were down about 0.4%. Shares have lost about 20% so far this year.