Question

Alan Turing described a thought experiment, the ‘imitation game’, in a paper titled ‘Computing machinery and intelligence.

1) How does the game operate when applied to computers?

Answer 1

A basic idea of "imitation test" suggested by Alan Turing is as follows:

There are three players A, B, C. A is a machine while B is a person. C is an interrogator (person) who cannot directly observe A and B but can interact with A and B through some common means (like text messages). C has to determine which one of A and B is human, using exchange of messages with A and B.

B, being a real person, will answer C's messages as a real person obviously. Let A be programmed in such a way that it tries to convince C that it is human by answering C's message as 'humanly' (real person like) as possible. If we reach such programming/computational level with A such that C cannot say for sure whether A is human or B is, can we say that A can think like human - Is A intelligent?

In reference with computers, Imitation test is often cited by many as one of the first and oldest tests for artificial intelligence in computational machines. Artificial intelligence simply means the presence of human-like intelligence in machines. An intelligent machine should understand, think and possibly react like a real person. Some of the artificial intelligence concepts that a computer must be capable in to pass Imitation test includes:

• Understanding Messages From C (Natural Language Processing)
• Presence Of Large Knowledge Base To Compute Answer To C's Messages
• Answering C's Messages Like A Real Person (Natural Language Generation)
• Evolve understanding based on new information and learning (Machine Learning)

Imitation Test is often criticized for being based on the concept - If it waddles and quacks, it is a duck. Many believe that just because a machine can make the observer unable to distinguish it from a real person, doesn't imply that it is equivalent to humans in intelligence. In recent years, technological computational advancement has created such computers which have been able to pass imitation test readily - However, most of them still lack the the essence of human intelligence and thought process, especially the concept of emotions and subjective thinking.