Solutions to problems with deep learning

Despite the several successes of deep learning systems, there are concerns about their limitations, discussed most recently by Gary Marcus. This paper discusses Marcus's concerns and some others, together with solutions to several of these problems provided by the "P theory of intelligence" and its realisation in the "SP computer model". The main advantages of the SP system are: relatively small requirements for data and the ability to learn from a single experience; the ability to model both hierarchical and non-hierarchical structures; strengths in several kinds of reasoning, including `commonsense' reasoning; transparency in the representation of knowledge, and the provision of an audit trail for all processing; the likelihood that the SP system could not be fooled into bizarre or eccentric recognition of stimuli, as deep learning systems can be; the SP system provides a robust solution to the problem of `catastrophic forgetting' in deep learning systems; the SP system provides a theoretically-coherent solution to the problems of correcting over- and under-generalisations in learning, and learning correct structures despite errors in data; unlike most research on deep learning, the SP programme of research draws extensively on research on human learning, perception, and cognition; and the SP programme of research has an overarching theory, supported by evidence, something that is largely missing from research on deep learning. In general, the SP system provides a much firmer foundation than deep learning for the development of artificial general intelligence.