Computer Passes Turing Test for the First Time

For decades, people have been able to have conversations with computers. However, humans have always been able to tell if they were talking with a person or computer. No computer ever built could carry on a conversation as smoothly and naturally as a person.

In 1950, a computer pioneer named Alan Turing devised a challenge for those creating new computer system. This was to create a machine that could communicate so smoothly, no one could tell they were talking to a computer.

That “Turing Test” has just been accomplished for the first time. A study group was asked to take part in a conversation with what they believed to be a 13-year-old boy.

Instead, that boy was a supercomputer.

The test required 30 percent of respondents to be fooled by the system. In this latest experiment, one-third of the human subjects believed they were talking to a human.

The revolutionary machine was designed by Vladimir Veselov, a Russian living in the United States, and Eugene Demchenko, a Ukrainian scientist in Russia. The successful experiment took place at the Royal Society in London.

Veselov said, “It’s a remarkable achievement for us and we hope it boosts interest in artificial intelligence and chatbots.”

Soon, people may not be able to tell if the “person” they are talking to online is a human or computer. Customer service accounts online couled be handled by automated systems that feel as natural as a talking to another person. People who are lonely could seek out the solace of a machine.

During World War Two, Turing developed systems that saved thousands of lives and shortened the conflict with Germany. After the war, the programmer was convicted of the crime of being homosexual, and chemically castrated. He committed suicide two
years later. It would be interesting to hear what this new computer system would have to say about that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10884839/Computer-passes-Turing-Test-

for-the-first-time-after-convincing-users-it-is-human.html

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/super-computer-first-to-pass-turing-test-

convince-judges-its-alive-20140608-zs1bu.html

http://blogs.computerworld.com/emerging-technologies/24003/ai-chat-bot-tests-turing-

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http://io9.com/a-chatbot-has-passed-the-turing-test-for-the-first-ti-1587834715

http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/8/5791450/computer-ai-passes-the-turing-test-for-the-

first-time-in-history