Recently a non-IBM supercomputer finally passed the “Turing Test” developed by futurist Alan Turing who was made famous last year in the movie, “The Imitation Game.” The Turing Test measures artificial intelligence. The supercomputer fooled these researchers during a 5 minute verbal conversation by imitating a fake 14 yr old boy in Ukraine named Eugene Goostman. After the interrogation each researcher has to declare if the conversation was with a computer or a real person. To pass the Turing Test, the computer had to fool greater than 30% of the researchers. This feat occurred on the 60th anniversary of Turing’s death.
The British Government eventually gave Turing a posthumous royal pardon and apologized for his forced chemical sterilization (and later suicide) for being homosexual. They now compare him to Winston Churchill as one of the people that helped save England in World War II. We can only imagine what Turing would think of the world conference happening next month in Kobe, Japan. The conference theme? “Interaction With Socially Embedded Robots” i.e. robots that people interface with every day. Will veterinary robots begin to replace veterinary staff, or assist and increase service and profits?
Rolan
