The biggest problem I have with the Turing test is that many humans can fail it.
The best bots can already carry on conversations better than a low-intelligence human who isn't concentrating on the task.
It's generally possible to distinguish bots by asking more probing questions. The problem with that is as the Watson project shows it is quite possible to build a computer system that can do well on hard questions too.
That leaves emotional-response type questions, but many of those a culturally specific, and so can really only identify something as being either a bot OR a person from a different culture.
My view is that the Turing test is much closer to being passed than people think, if you specify a Turing test that all humans can pass.
> The biggest problem I have with the Turing test is that many humans can fail it.
This is precisely the reason why I think AI has so much potential.
It doesn't have to be smarter than the smartest human to be of any use. If it's at least as smart and knowledgeable as a fairly dumb or ignorant person, then it could be incredibly useful. What's the use of building a fleet of robot servants if we can't load them with an AI which is at least smart enough to carry out chores, follow orders and communicate about everyday objects. We don't have to load them each with Einstein AI, just Bubba AI would be a big win.
Too often researchers think that AI must be perfect under all conditions. The truth is that we adapt our usage of tools to their limitations all the time, which makes me think that AI-powered vision systems that work well in some limited circumstances would still be very useful.
The best bots can already carry on conversations better than a low-intelligence human who isn't concentrating on the task.
It's generally possible to distinguish bots by asking more probing questions. The problem with that is as the Watson project shows it is quite possible to build a computer system that can do well on hard questions too.
That leaves emotional-response type questions, but many of those a culturally specific, and so can really only identify something as being either a bot OR a person from a different culture.
My view is that the Turing test is much closer to being passed than people think, if you specify a Turing test that all humans can pass.