Re: Turing test


"Dave Smith" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6c6b0540-7349-417b-96bc-7881b492df08@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If a computer could pass itself off as a person, thus satisfying the
Turing test, I would be inclined to attribute the credit to its
manufacturer and programmer rather than to the computer itself.
However, I suppose if the computer is programmed so that it can
develop its 'intelligence' by interacting with its environment, the
issue isn't so clear-cut. This article from the Guardian website is
relevant and might be of interest. In the example at the end, the
computer's attempt at conversation isn't too convincing!


'Intelligent' computers put to the test'
Programmers try to fool human interrogators
David Smith, technology correspondent
The Observer, Sunday October 5 2008

Can machines think? That was the question posed by the great
mathematician Alan Turing. Half a century later six computers are
about to converse with human interrogators in an experiment that will
attempt to prove that the answer is yes.

In the 'Turing test' a machine seeks to fool judges into believing
that it could be human. The test is performed by conducting a text-
based conversation on any subject. If the computer's responses are
indistinguishable from those of a human, it has passed the Turing test
and can be said to be 'thinking'.

No machine has yet passed the test devised by Turing, who helped to
crack German military codes during the Second World War. But at 9am
next Sunday, six computer programs - 'artificial conversational
entities' - will answer questions posed by human volunteers at the
University of Reading in a bid to become the first recognised
'thinking' machine. If any program succeeds, it is likely to be hailed
as the most significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence since
the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry
Kasparov in 1997. It could also raise profound questions about whether
a computer has the potential to be 'conscious' - and if humans should
have the 'right' to switch it off.

Professor Kevin Warwick, a cyberneticist at the university, said: 'I
would say now that machines are conscious, but in a machine-like way,
just as you see a bat or a rat is conscious like a bat or rat, which
is different from a human. I think the reason Alan Turing set this
game up was that maybe to him consciousness was not that important;
it's more the appearance of it, and this test is an important aspect
of appearance.'

If it's the "appearance" of consciousness that is considered important, it would surely be easier to imitate the verbal behaviour of a three year old child rather than an adult.


The six computer programs taking part in the test are called Alice,
Brother Jerome, Elbot, Eugene Goostman, Jabberwacky and Ultra Hal.
Their designers will be competing for an 18-carat gold medal and
$100,000 offered by the Loebner Prize in Artificial Intelligence.

The test will be carried out by human 'interrogators', each sitting at
a computer with a split screen: one half will be operated by an unseen
human, the other by a program. The interrogators will then begin
separate, simultaneous text-based conversations with both of them on
any subjects they choose. After five minutes they will be asked to
judge which is which. If they get it wrong, or are not sure, the
program will have fooled them. According to Warwick, a program needs
only to make 30 per cent or more of the interrogators unsure of its
identity to be deemed as having passed the test, based on Turing's own
criteria.

These were not Turing's criteria for passing the test but his prediction for the state of the art by the year 2000.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Turing test
    ... Turing test, I would be inclined to attribute the credit to its ... Programmers try to fool human interrogators ... If it's the "appearance" of consciousness that is considered important, ... $100,000 offered by the Loebner Prize in Artificial Intelligence. ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Turing test
    ... Programmers try to fool human interrogators ... In the 'Turing test' a machine seeks to fool judges into believing ... Professor Kevin Warwick, a cyberneticist at the university, said: ... would say now that machines are conscious, but in a machine-like way, ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Re: A request for information please.
    ... pass the Turing Test, or it 'could just be' that the program _must_ ... AI TT passing program doesn't require a mind. ... of how consciousness works in humans first. ... then extending it to computers is a relatively trivial step. ...
    (comp.ai.philosophy)
  • Re: A request for information please.
    ... pass the Turing Test, or it 'could just be' that the program _must_ ... possible for a TT passing AI to appear to have C/M similar to a GM chess ... AI TT passing program doesn't require a mind. ... of how consciousness works in humans first. ...
    (comp.ai.philosophy)
  • Re: Implausibility that we can be explained by evolution
    ... behaving consciously (ie it passed the ideal turing test) ... not to follow the laws of physics? ... experiences and fail Turing tests (or would if anybody were to test ... I don't expect anything un-influenced by consciousness to pass the ...
    (talk.origins)