According to a study, pigeons solved problems in the same way as AI. An astonishing discovery that calls into question the intelligence of these species.
“Birds aren’t real.” This anecdote flooded the internet a few months ago. And several people are spreading this rumor. However, according to a recent study, this hypothesis may hold. As a matter of fact, Pigeons would adopt the same thought processes as an AI. Researchers at Ohio University have gathered solid scientific evidence to support this approach.
Pigeons and the “Brute Force” method
According to this study, pigeons and AI take advantage of this “Brute force” method. This technique consists of use all possible means to solve a problem. In the case of hackers, the process is based on testing thousands of passwords to obtain targeted data. Hence the term brute force.
To prove their hypothesis, the researchers used a special approach. They have Confrontation of pigeons with stimuli. Lines of different widths, cut and concentric rings. The subjects had to categorize by clicking a button. They receive a reward for each correct answer.
55% of the pigeons had the correct answers in the first tests. After a few trials, the subjects improved their performance. They moved 95% success.
“Researchers have found out strong evidence that the mechanisms that govern pigeon learning are remarkably similar to the same principles that guide machine learning and modern AI.” Brandon Turner, professor of psychology at Ohio State.
Intelligent species, but barely recognized by humanity
“People often celebrate how clever we are at developing AI while at the same time denigrating pigeons as stupid animals.” Professor Turner made this remark in an attempt to defend the species. He then added that Pigeons are capable of mimicking the performance of artificial intelligence.
“The learning principles that govern the behavior of AI machines are similar to those of pigeons,” says Professor Turner. This statement sums it up the extraordinary similarity between artificial intelligence and birds.
However, pigeons take advantage of it an advanced associative learning method. It is one of the most sophisticated in the animal world. In fact, these birds were the first to understand that it was necessary Categorize shapes. Then they came to the conclusion that everyone The correct answer means reward. They just had to Combine these two pieces of information to get a near-perfect result.
A species with intelligence different from that of a human
A person will be tempted to apply multiple rules and techniques to make a complex task easier. However, some give up once the difficulty increases. This is not the case with pigeons. They simply tried multiple methods to achieve their goal.
“The pigeons weren’t interested in making rules. They just use this method of trial and error and associative learning with brute force.” Professor Turner.