Forget the IQ test, MRI scans could reveal how smart you REALLY are – and lead to AI that can learn like a human

The IQ test has long been dismissed as an inaccurate way to discern how intelligent a person really is – but now scientists may have found a better way.

Researchers say MRI scans can measure human intelligence, and define exactly what it is.

This could lead to radical leaps in AI with machines programmed to think in the same way we do.

‘Human intelligence is a widely and hotly debated topic and only recently have advanced brain imaging techniques, such as those used in our current study, given us the opportunity to gain sufficient insights to resolve this and inform developments in artificial intelligence, as well as help establish the basis for understanding and diagnosis of debilitating human mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression,’ said Professor Jianfeng Feng of the University of Warwick, who led the research.

Together with a team in China he has been working to quantify the brain’s dynamic functions, and identify how different parts of the brain interact with each other at different times – to discover how intellect works.

Professor Jianfeng found the more variable a brain is, and the more its different parts frequently connect with each other, the higher a person’s IQ and creativity are.

The team believe the work could lead to a breakthrough in AI systems.  

Currently, AI systems do not process the variability and adaptability that is vital, as evidenced by Professor Jianfeng’s research, to the human brain for growth and learning.