I think any task-based assessment of intelligence is missing the mark. Highly intelligent people are not considered smart just because they can accomplish tasks.
Einstein in the early 1900s was employed to evaluate patents, a job which undoubtedly came with a list of tasks for him to accomplish. He was good at it. But he also gave himself the work which resulted in his famous papers.
Or consider an intern and Elon Musk, given the task of multiplying a series of 6-digit numbers by 11-digit numbers. The intern will grab a calculator or spreadsheet and finish quickly and accurately. Elon Musk will say “this is a fucking waste of my time” and go do something way more valuable. Which is smarter?
This is a more thought provoking answer than I was expecting. :)
Yes, I can see that there is a "spark-of-intention" that might be part of intelligence--or it might be separate depending on how we define these things.
Whatever the case, whether or not AIs can have coherent "sparks-of-intention" is something to watch for, but might be even more elusive and controversial than whether or not AIs are "intelligent".
