Intelligence Density
Towards Measuring Capability per Unit of Computation
Type
White Paper
Version
v1.0
Published
August 2026
Author
SHINGETSU
Abstract
The dominant paradigm in artificial intelligence research has treated capability as fundamentally a function of scale: larger models, larger datasets, larger training compute. This paper challenges that assumption by introducing Intelligence Density — a formal framework for measuring the concentration of general-purpose capability relative to computational resources consumed. We propose the Intelligence Density Quotient (IDQ) as a composite metric spanning task performance, parameter efficiency, inference cost, and benchmark breadth. We demonstrate that IDQ and related density measures reveal a dimension of model quality currently underserved by existing benchmarks, and argue that maximising intelligence density may represent a more tractable and scientifically productive research objective for a substantial class of applications. This paper establishes the theoretical foundations and measurement methodology underpinning the CHISEI research programme at SHINGETSU.
Keywords
Citation
SHINGETSU. (2026). Intelligence Density: Towards Measuring Capability per Unit of Computation (White Paper SGT-PUB-2026-0001, Version 1.0). SHINGETSU Research.
Version History
Initial publication.
Permanent Record
- Identifier
- SGT-PUB-2026-0001
- Number
- No. 001
- Type
- White Paper
- Version
- v1.0
- Published
- August 2026
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