Apple researchers have found “fundamental limitations” in cutting-edge artificial intelligence models, in a paper raising doubts about the technology industry’s race to develop ever more powerful systems.

Apple said in a paper (PDF download) published at the weekend that large reasoning models (LRMs) – an advanced form of AI – faced a “complete accuracy collapse” when presented with highly complex problems.

It found that standard AI models outperformed LRMs in low-complexity tasks, while both types of model suffered “complete collapse” with high-complexity tasks. Large reasoning models attempt to solve complex queries by generating detailed thinking processes that break down the problem into smaller steps.