The problem is in defining intelligence by behavior. What we see as intelligence in insects most likely originates from an entirely different process.
Jeff talks about this exact issue in this speech he gave, 10 years go. He mentions it around the 11 min mark but the whole video is a great intro to what this is all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6CVj5IQkzk
> What we see as intelligence in insects most likely originates from an entirely different process.
That is pure speculation.
As far as I can tell, what you're suggesting is that it might possibly be easier to figure out how human intelligence works than it would be to figure out how an insect performs a few calculations, in cases where we know almost exactly which calculations are being performed (see e.g. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5782/1965).
I don't see any reason to think that this is true other than wild optimism.
Jeff talks about this exact issue in this speech he gave, 10 years go. He mentions it around the 11 min mark but the whole video is a great intro to what this is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6CVj5IQkzk