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Days since the Centenary: 723
Days to the Bicentennial: 35,801
Further to the post of a few days ago (“Did a Supercomputer Finally Pass the Turing Test? Don’t Bet On It“), skepticism about the alleged passing of the Turing Test by a chatbot named Eugene Goostman is spreading, and in some instances turning to outright derision.
The story–with a focus on the failings of the supposedly groundbreaking event–was the lead story in the June 15 edition of BBC’s The Science Hour (available online here for six days as of today).
BBC’s The Science Hour
On the menu were some complaints heard previously, including the gaming of the system by having the chatbot claim to be a young boy and a non-native speaker of English (the language in which the test was conducted), leading judges to treat its errors with indulgence, as well as the five-minute time limit on the test.
Meanwhile, over on the web site of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Ben Goertzel, author of Creating Internet Intelligence and The Path to Posthumanity, called it:
… a bogus event trumped up by someone’s PR agent in an attempt to get some excitement about their work.
You can watch the entire Goetzel interview below.
By now the University of Reading, where the test was held, must rue its decision to allow itself to be associated with such transparently sensational baloney. Presumably it didn’t appear so calculatedly disingenuous in advance, but it’s looking pretty shoddy in retrospect.
The Turing Centenary (+ Bicentennial) 