Let’s start off this article with what is Turing Test and what is its importance. The test was devised by code-breaker Alan Turing who was a World War II computing pioneer and crafted the test back in 1950. This test serves as an indicator for AI (artificial intelligence) and as per Mr. Turing, if a machine can’t be distinguished from a human then it is thinking fine. Now why have we stated all this? We did so because a computer program known as Eugene has managed to pass this test and is capable of simulating a 13 year old boy by convincing 33% of the judges that it is not a machine. (Note that the test states the minimum percentage of judges being convinced to qualify the machine as human to be 30%).
The test is a series of keyboard conversations of 5 minutes. 5 machines were part of the Turing test at the Royal Society in central London for text based conversations. The test was organized by University of Reading and Professor Kevin Warwick from the same university stated; ‘In the field of artificial intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test. It is fitting that such an important landmark has been reached at the Royal Society in London, the home of British science and the scene of many great advances in human understanding over the centuries. This milestone will go down in history as one of the most exciting.’
The successful machine (read computer program) was created by Vladimir Veselov who is Russian-born but now settled in US and Ukrainian Eugene Demchenko who is a resident of Russia. According to Veselov; ‘It’s a remarkable achievement for us and we hope it boosts interest in artificial intelligence and chatbots.’ Professor Warwick while commenting on previous claims of successful Turing test stated that; ‘A true Turing Test does not set the questions or topics prior to the conversations. We are therefore proud to declare that Alan Turing’s test was passed for the first time.’
What we are looking at is the future of computers where AI is becoming so advanced that now machines are capable of simulating human behavior and this will no doubt have implications on social fronts.
