HAL. WOPR. KITT. R2-D2. C3PO. Hollywood films and television shows are filled with examples of computers capable of having an intelligent conversation with humans. The reality is somewhat different: Even the simplest ATM or gas-pump activities are beyond the grasp of computer chit-chat. But an annual test of silicon-based conversationalists suggests that might be changing.
Nearly 60 years ago, British mathematician Alan Turing proposed conversation as a test for determining whether an artificial device can think. “If, during text-based conversation,” Turing said, “a machine is indistinguishable from a human, then it could be said to be ‘thinking’ and, therefore, could be attributed with intelligence.”
To eliminate any potential bias by humans toward computers, Turing said the idea of artificial conversation should be tested by having humans engage in a chat session on a computer terminal. At the other end of the chat would be either a human or a computer program; the test is for the human to judge whether he or she is talking to another human or an artificial device.
The threshold for artificial intelligence, Turing said, is whether a computer program can fool humans into thinking it is alive 30 percent of the time.
On Sunday, a version of the Turing test called the Loebner Prize was held at Reading University in the United Kingdom under the direction of Professor Kevin Warwick. The prize is named after Hugh Loebner, president and CEO of the New Jersey-based Crown Industries, who has pledged $100,000 to the first person to write a program that passes the Turing test. In addition, Loebner awards $2,000 to the entry each year that is the most human-like (i.e., fools the most judges).
Warwick said people would be surprised at how close the machines are coming to passing the conversation test.
“What we found today,” Warwick said, “is that if…