In a conversation with reporters, Huang talked about the impact of neural networks on the cognitive abilities of young people. The reason is data from China, where homework scores for students in grades seven to 12 improved due to the introduction of artificial intelligence, but after two years, scores on key exams dropped by nearly a quarter.
Huang is philosophical about this, and there’s nothing wrong in saying that traditional skills like long division and rote memorization of multiplication tables will inevitably become a thing of the past. In his view, detailed knowledge of basic formulas is being replaced by entirely new systems thinking, allowing future experts to deal with more complex concepts.