Big news. A computer program has managed to fool a bunch of researchers into thinking it's a 13-year-old named Eugene Goostman. In doing so, it's become the first time in the world that someone has successfully passed the Turing test.
The test is named after computer pioneer Alan Turing. To pass the test, a computer program must fool 30 percent of the judges in five minutes by answering chats. The feat has never been achieved before.
“Eugene” was created by a team of scientists in Russia, and passed the test organized by the University of Reading. It barely managed to fool one out of three judges, but it was enough to pass the test. It should also be noted that the chatbot pretended to be a 13-year-old boy, for whom English was his second language.
It's obviously an exciting discovery, but it already has critics raising red flags about the implications it could have.
"Having a computer that can fool human thought, and make someone think they're talking to people they trust, is a wake-up call for future cybercrime," said Kevin Warwick, a visiting professor at the University of Reading.
Are there serious concerns about what this news means for online security in the future? Sure. But today, after this, we should all understand that we have entered a new era of computing.
Of course, it would be good to mention a very practical application of the Eugene Goostman. It could be used as a trap to catch pedophiles.
