Jun 09 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

In a first, comp convinces humans it's a real person

Andrew Griffin





Eugene Goostman, a computer programme made by a team based in Russia, cleared the Turing Test. It convinced 33% of the judges that it was a 13-yr-old boy

A programme that convinced humans that it was a 13-year-old boy has become the first computer ever to pass the Turing Test. The test -which requires that computers are indistinguishable from humans -is considered a landmark in the development of artificial intelligence, but academics have warned that the technology could be used for cybercrime.Computing pioneer Alan Turing said that a computer could be understood to be thinking if it passed the test, which requires that a computer dupes 30% of human interrogators in five-minute text conversations. Eugene Goostman, a computer programme made by a team based in Russia, succeeded in a test conducted at the Royal Society in London. It convinced 33% of the judges that it was human, said academics at the University of Reading, which organized the test.
It is thought to be the first computer to pass the iconic
test. The success came on the 60th anniversary of Turing’s death, on Saturday. The computer programme claims to be a 13-year-old boy from Odessa in Ukraine.“Our idea was that he can claim he knows anything, but his age makes it perfectly reasonable that he doesn’t know everything,” said Vladimir Veselov, one of the creators of the programme. “We developed a character with a believable personality.” The programme’s success may prompt concerns about the future of computing, said Kevin Warwick, a visiting professor at the University of Reading and deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University. THE INDEPENDENT