One step closer to artificial intelligence
We taught computers to distinguish things, we taught them to think, now we've managed to teach them to lie whenever they want!
A computer passed the "Turing test" for the first time, managing to "fool" its judges/examiners and convince them that it is a 13-year-old child.
According to this test, which was created in 1950 by Alan Turing, a mathematician and pioneer of computer science and artificial intelligence, a machine can be considered to be "thinking", constituting true artificial intelligence, if in a conversation with it, it creates the impression that it is not a computer, but a human.
Until now, no computer had managed to pass the test, which requires it to "fool" 30% of the judges in a series of five-minute conversations via keyboard and text.
The event was organised by the University of Reading (UK) at the Royal Society on Saturday, and the computer that passed the famous test is “Eugene Goostman”: a computer program that simulates a 13-year-old boy. The program was developed in St. Petersburg, Russia, and its creators are Vladimir Veselov (born in Russia and now a permanent resident of the US) and Eugene Demchenko (from Ukraine - now living in Russia).
The Turing test is based on the famous question-and-answer game developed by Alan Turing, “Can Machines Think?” As mentioned above, its purpose is to investigate whether a person can understand whether they are talking to a computer or a human.
It is noted that the entire event has particularly symbolic significance, as it took place on the 60th anniversary of Alan Turing's death, approximately six months after the famous mathematician was posthumously pardoned.
“Eugene” managed to convince 33% of his examiners that he was human in the test, which was organized by the university’s School of Systems Engineering, in collaboration with RoboLaw, an EU-funded organization that deals with issues of robotic technologies.
As Professor Kevin Warwick, Visiting Professor at the University of Reading and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research at Coventry University, said, “In the field of Artificial Intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test, in which a computer convinces a sufficient number of ‘examiners’ to believe that it is not a machine but a human. It is entirely fitting that we have reached this milestone at the Royal Society in London, the ‘home’ of British science and the scene of so many major developments in human understanding over the centuries. This milestone will go down in history as one of the most exciting. Some will argue that the test has already been passed. The words ‘Turing Test’ have been used in similar competitions around the world. However, this event included more simultaneous comparative tests than ever before, was independently validated, and most importantly, there were no restrictions on the discussions. A true ʽTuring testʼ does not determine the questions or their topics in advance of the discussions. So we are proud to announce that Alan Turing's test was passed for the first time on Saturday.”.
In terms of its societal significance, Warwick said a computer that can trick a human into thinking that someone or something is trustworthy is a wake-up call for cybercrime. “The Turing test is a vital tool in addressing this threat. It is important to better understand how real-time online communications like this can influence a person to believe that something is real when it is not.”.
"Eugene" was one of five supercomputers competing for the Turing Test 2014 Prize. For his part, Vladimir Veselov congratulated those who worked on the program and expressed hope that this achievement will stimulate interest in artificial intelligence and "chatbots.".
As he pointed out, “Eugene” was “born” in 2001 and the central idea behind him was that he could claim to know anything, but given his age, it is entirely expected that this would not be the case. “Moving forward, we plan to make ʽEugeneʼ smarter and continue to work to improve what we call ʽdebate logicʼ.”.
Source: planet-greece.blogspot.com
