Deep limitations? Examining expert disagreement over deep learning

Abstract

We investigate expert disagreement over the potential and limitations of deep learning. We conducted 25 expert interviews to reveal the reasons and arguments that underlie the disagreement about the limitations of deep learning, here evaluated in respect to high-level machine intelligence. Experts in our sample named 40 limitations of deep learning. Using interview data, we identify and explore five crucial, unresolved research subjects that underpin this scholarly disagreement: abstraction, generalisation, explanatory models, emergence of planning and intervention. We suggest that such origins of disagreement can be used to form a research road map to guide efforts towards overcoming the limitations of deep learning.