We explain what the Turing test or Turing test is, its origin and what it is used for today. Also, we tell you who Alan Turing was.
What is the Turing test?
The Turing test or Turing test It is an evaluation tool for artificial intelligence intended to check how much they can imitate a human being in their way of communicating. Its name is due to the fact that it was proposed by the British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing (1912-1954) in his 1950 essay Computing Machinery and Intelligence (“Computational machinery and intelligence”) published in the journal mind.
Although the Turing test was created long before computers had the development and power that they have achieved at the beginning of the 21st century, it is still a fundamental tool when it comes to measuring the degree of development of artificial intelligence.
The test was intended by Turing as a way to answer the question “Can machines think?”, a question that for Turing was too ambiguous to be answered scientifically, since there is no single criterion to define and understand thinking. Thus, Turing reconsidered the question and designed the test to answer “Will digital computers be able to effectively imitate a human being?”.
Today there are different versions of the Turing Test. In its original version (PET: Standard Turing Test), consisted of subjecting an interrogator to interaction in writing, using natural language, with three different interlocutors, only one of which was artificial intelligence to evaluate. If after 5 minutes of interaction the artificial intelligence managed to “deceive” the interrogator in 70% of the cases, it was then considered to have passed and was therefore effective in simulating the interaction with a human intelligence.
Differences of opinion on the correct way to interpret the results and set up the experiment led to the rethinking of Turing's schemes. Thus, more complex and detailed versions were constructed, such as the Feigenbaum test or the Ebert test.
There are also differences regarding the approval criteria for artificial intelligence, which means that for some the test has never been passed (although it is projected that by 2029 this could change), while others consider it partially approved for decades. In 2014, for example, an artificial intelligence called Eugene and developed in Russia managed to impersonate a 13-year-old boy 33% of the time.
Who was Alan Turing?
Alan Turing was a mathematician, computer scientist, philosopher and theoretical biologist of British origin, considered as one of the founders of computing and a precursor of modern computing.
Turing was an important collaborator of the British government during World War II (1939-1945), as leader of a project to decipher German communications codes, created through the use of the Enigma machine. For this Turing created the Bombe machine capable of tracing the original message through a series of complex logical deductions. It is estimated that this invention shortened the war by at least two years which saved around 14 million lives.
Turing's successful career came to a sudden culmination, however, when In 1952 he was tried and accused of “gross indecency and sexual perversion.” according to the laws of the time, which prohibited homosexuality. He was then offered an alternative: go to prison or undergo chemical castration treatment using estrogen injections. Turing He died just two years later after eating an apple poisoned with cyanide, possibly as an act of suicide.
In 2009 the UK government issued a formal apology for the way Turing was treated, and in 2013 he received a posthumous pardon from Queen Elizabeth II, who absolved him of all guilt.
Continue with: Scientific experimentation
References
- “Alan Turing” on Wikipedia.
- “Turing Test: Can Computers Replace Humans?” in Santander Río Scholarships.
- “How much do you know about Alan Turing?” in National Geographic in Spanish.
- “A computer passes the Turing Test by pretending to be a 13-year-old boy” in El País (Spain).
- “Turing test (artificial intelligence)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
