Yann LeCun, Chief AI Scientist at Meta: "Currently, humanoid robots have no practical value; these kung fu performances are all pre-programmed. Their level of consciousness is even less than your cat, let alone human intelligence."

This statement indeed comes from Yann LeCun, Chief AI Scientist at Meta and Turing Award winner. It is his sharp criticism of the current hype around humanoid robots in a public setting.

Yann LeCun clearly stated on January 22, 2026, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, that no company currently can produce a humanoid robot with real practical value.

Those robots widely spread online, which can perform "kung fu" or backflips, are, in his view, more like impressive pre-programmed demonstrations. There is a huge gap between such stunts and actual applications: robots can perform difficult moves, but often make mistakes on basic domestic tasks like folding clothes or wiping tables. He believes this is not a lack of physical ability, but a fundamental defect in "intelligence."

The most striking part of Yann LeCun's views is the metaphor that "a robot's common sense is worse than a cat's." This is not just a simple joke, but based on his deep understanding of the nature of intelligence.

He believes the key issue lies in the absence of a world model. Although a cat's brain has only about 800 million neurons, it has a mental model of the physical world, persistent memory, and some reasoning and planning capabilities. A cat knows how much force it needs to jump onto a table, and also knows what is behind the sofa. However, even the most advanced artificial intelligence, including large neural networks, lacks this basic understanding and common sense of the world.

It is worth noting that Yann LeCun's criticism does not deny the future of humanoid robots, but warns about technical bottlenecks and capital bubbles in the industry. Therefore, his core point is: before humanoid robots learn to understand the world like a cat, they are still far away from true "practicality" and "intelligence."

Original: toutiao.com/article/1857385481315328/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.