Artificial intelligence is now as smart as an 8th grader

Are you smarter than an eighth grader? This A.I. system named Aristo just proved it is.

On Wednesday, researchers at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle revealed Aristo correctly answered more than 90 percent of the multiple choice questions on an eighth grade science exam, and more than 80 percent on a twelfth grade exam, reports The New York Times.

Rather than just memorization questions, the exam included logic-based problems as well, including: "Which change would most likely cause a decrease in the number of squirrels living in an area?"

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This required Aristo, named for Aristotle, to invoke human logic, an advancement that may help with various services, including internet search engines and hospital record-keeping, writes the Times. While Aristo's success is promising, researchers say this is still just the beginning for the technology.

"We can't compare this technology to real human students and their ability to reason," Microsoft researcher Jingjing Liu told the Times.

But just four years ago, 700 scientists entered a contest to develop A.I. that could pass an eighth grade science exam, and none were able to do so, making Aristo's exam results not only fridge-worthy, but a glimpse into the future of artificial intelligence. Read more at The New York Times.