AI robot gets below average scores in university entrance exam

Beijing: An artificial intelligence robot that took a college entrance exam in China has managed to scrape a below average grade, although it finished the test much faster than humans.

The robot, AI-MATHS, completed two versions of the exam's math test. It finished the test in 22 minutes, scoring 105 points out of 150 points, without Internet support. It scored 100 points on another version of the test.

"It would take two hours for a human to finish the test. I hope next year the machine can improve its performance on logical reasoning and computer algorithms and score over 130," said Lin Hui, CEO of Chengdu Zhunxingyunxue Technology, the company which developed the robot.

In February, the robot scored 93 on one math test, slightly higher than the passing grade of 90.

China's Ministry of Science and Technology plans to build AI robots by 2020 that would be smart enough to gain admission to leading universities through the entrance exam, the state- run news agency Xinhua reported.

"This is not a make-or-break test for a robot. The aim is to train artificial intelligence to learn the way humans reason and deal with numbers," said Hui.

The robot has attempted 12,000 math questions, but an average high school student needs to solve 30,000 questions before taking the exam, he said.

AI may be faster than humans in dealing with numbers, but they are not good at processing language.