The brain versus AI: World-model-based versatile circuit computation underlying diverse functions in the neocortex and cerebellum

TL;DR

This paper compares brain and AI circuit computations across multiple domains, revealing similarities and proposing a unified theory that explains diverse brain functions through world-model-based processes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework subdividing circuit computation into structure, input/output, and learning, enabling cross-domain comparison and proposing a new theory of brain function inspired by AI mechanisms.

Findings

Identifies convergent evolution in brain and AI circuit functions.

Proposes a unified theory of brain computation based on world models.

Highlights similarities in prediction, understanding, and generation processes.

Abstract

AI's significant recent advances using general-purpose circuit computations offer a potential window into how the neocortex and cerebellum of the brain are able to achieve a diverse range of functions across sensory, cognitive, and motor domains, despite their uniform circuit structures. However, comparing the brain and AI is challenging unless clear similarities exist, and past reviews have been limited to comparison of brain-inspired vision AI and the visual neocortex. Here, to enable comparisons across diverse functional domains, we subdivide circuit computation into three elements -- circuit structure, input/outputs, and the learning algorithm -- and evaluate the similarities for each element. With this novel approach, we identify wide-ranging similarities and convergent evolution in the brain and AI, providing new insights into key concepts in neuroscience. Furthermore, inspired by processing mechanisms of AI, we propose a new theory that integrates established neuroscience theories, particularly the theories of internal models and the mirror neuron system. Both the neocortex and cerebellum predict future world events from past information and learn from prediction errors, thereby acquiring models of the world. These models enable three core processes: (1) Prediction -- generating future information, (2) Understanding -- interpreting the external world via compressed and abstracted sensory information, and (3) Generation -- repurposing the future-information generation mechanism to produce other types of outputs. The universal application of these processes underlies the ability of the neocortex and cerebellum to accomplish diverse functions with uniform circuits. Our systematic approach, insights, and theory promise groundbreaking advances in understanding the brain.