Using synthetic data for AI training is 'a big mistake,' says AI pioneer Rich Sutton

Aug 19, 2026 12:49 PM - 3 hours ago 4

Richard Sutton

Richard Sutton said synthetic information is not the solution for scaling AI. Business Wire/AP

Rich Sutton helped pioneer the exertion down today's AI boom. Now he thinks Big Tech's push to support AI going is each wrong.

On an section of Sequoia's podcast released Tuesday, the Canadian machine intelligence and Turing Award victor said that the AI manufacture is headed successful the incorrect guidance because of its reliance connected synthetic training data.

"That's conscionable a large mistake," he said erstwhile asked astir utilizing synthetic information arsenic a measurement to support scaling ample connection models. "Maybe it's the adjacent large lesson."

Synthetic information is accusation artificially produced by algorithms aliases AI models alternatively than collected from original, real-world sources. It has go progressively charismatic arsenic AI companies scour the net and hunt for caller sources of training data. Examples see computer-generated images of cars for self-driving training aliases clone slope records for AI fraud detection.

On immoderate level, Big Tech agrees pinch Sutton.

Tech giants are going to increasingly bonzer lengths to find much of the existent thing. OpenAI has publically sought large-scale, proprietary datasets that aren't readily disposable online to thief train its AI models. Earlier this week, Google agreed to salary $10 cardinal for soul information and package belonging to bankrupt Spirit Airlines, highlighting the increasing worth of proprietary, real-world accusation for AI training.

On Tuesday's podcast, Sutton said manufactured information isn't an capable substitute for existent data.

Human behaviour is 1 specified example, he said.

"There's nary measurement we tin person synthetic information for other people's minds," he said.

His preferred replacement is existent experiential data: accusation an AI supplier obtains by interacting pinch its existent environment, watching what happens, and continuously learning from the consequences.

"You can't get synthetic information connected really the drone is going to interact pinch its situation successful the beingness world," Sutton said, adding that location are variables specified arsenic clash and deterioration successful a robot's motors. "The world is infinitely complex, and immoderate simulation of it is like, microscopic."

That has now go a startup thesis. Last month, Sutton and his erstwhile student Khurram Javed launched Oak Lab. The startup is processing agents designed to study continuously from their ain acquisition alternatively than relying chiefly connected large, pre-curated datasets. Oak Lab has not disclosed a backing information aliases investors.

Read next

More