Physicist Kyle Cranmer: AI's wins show the value of grinding, not new ideas
KyleCranmer · x · 2026-09-29
Physicist and University of Wisconsin professor Kyle Cranmer argues that AI's impressive results may not reveal the nature of intelligence, but they do demonstrate the value of hard work and persistence.
Pointing to a recent "nine loops" result, he notes that we can get there by "turning the crank" — a sophisticated crank, but one that requires no new ideas. He adds that in his impression, the Newell-Simon approach wasn't that different.
The take: major AI breakthroughs sometimes come not from paradigm-shifting insights but from sustained, systematic effort — echoing a pattern from the early history of AI.
Related event: Physicist Kyle Cranmer: AI Progress Comes From Persistence, Not New Ideas(2 posts)→
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