Meta’s Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun has publicly challenged predictions about the imminent arrival of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence. The debate began when Shengjia Zhao, a researcher at Meta’s AI lab FAIR, suggested that superintelligent AI could emerge as early as 2025. LeCun strongly disagreed with this timeline, emphasizing that current AI systems lack fundamental capabilities required for AGI. He argued that existing AI models are essentially pattern recognition systems that don’t possess true understanding or reasoning abilities. LeCun pointed out that we still don’t know how to create AI systems with basic reasoning capabilities, autonomous learning, or common sense understanding of the physical world. He stressed that significant scientific breakthroughs are needed before achieving AGI, and these advances aren’t likely to happen within the next few years. The discussion highlights the ongoing debate within the AI community about the timeline for advanced AI development, with LeCun representing a more measured view against those predicting rapid advancement to superintelligence. His position aligns with his previous statements about the limitations of current AI technology and the need for new approaches beyond existing large language models. The exchange also underscores the diversity of opinions even within major tech companies regarding AI development trajectories.