https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140609/07284327524/no-computer-did-not-pass-turing-test-first-time-everyone-should-know-better.shtml
> No, A 'Supercomputer' Did NOT Pass The Turing Test For The First Time And > Everyone Should Know Better > > from the what-a-waste-of-time dept > > So, this weekend's news in the tech world was flooded with a "story" about > how a "chatbot" passed the Turing Test for "the first time," with lots of > publications buying every point in the story and talking about what a big > deal it was. Except, almost everything about the story is bogus and a bunch > of gullible reporters ran with it, because that's what they do. First, here's > the press release from the University of Reading, which should have set off > all sorts of alarm bells for any reporter. Here are some quotes, almost all > of which are misleading or bogus: > Okay, almost everything about the story is bogus. Let's dig in: > • It's not a "supercomputer," it's a chatbot. It's a script made to > mimic human conversation. There is no intelligence, artificial or not > involved. It's just a chatbot. > • Plenty of other chatbots have similarly claimed to have "passed" the > Turing test in the past (often with higher ratings). Here's a story from > three years ago about another bot, Cleverbot, "passing" the Turing Test by > convincing 59% of judges it was human (much higher than the 33% Eugene > Goostman) claims. > • It "beat" the Turing test here by "gaming" the rules -- by telling > people the computer was a 13-year-old boy from Ukraine in order to mentally > explain away odd responses. > • The "rules" of the Turing test always seem to change. Hell, Turing's > original test was quite different anyway. > • As Chris Dixon points out, you don't get to run a single test with > judges that you picked and declare you accomplished something. That's just > not how it's done. If someone claimed to have created nuclear fusion or cured > cancer, you'd wait for some peer review and repeat tests under other > circumstances before buying it, right? > • The whole concept of the Turing Test itself is kind of a joke. While > it's fun to think about, creating a chatbot that can fool humans is not > really the same thing as creating artificial intelligence. Many in the AI > world look on the Turing Test as a needless distraction. > Oh, and the biggest red flag of all. The event was organized by Kevin Warwick > at Reading University. If you've spent any time at all in the tech world, you > should automatically have red flags raised around that name. Warwick is > somewhat infamous for his ridiculous claims to the press, which gullible > reporters repeat without question. He's been doing it for decades. All the > way back in 2000, we were writing about all the ridiculous press he got for > claiming to be the world's first "cyborg" for implanting a chip in his arm. > There was even a -- since taken down -- Kevin Warwick Watch website that > mocked and categorized all of his media appearances in which gullible > reporters simply repeated all of his nutty claims. Warwick had gone quiet for > a while, but back in 2010, we wrote about how his lab was getting bogus press > for claiming to have "the first human infected with a computer virus." The > Register has rightly referred to Warwick as both "Captain Cyborg" and a > "media strumpet" and has long been chronicling his escapades in exaggerating > bogus stories about the intersection of humans and computers for many, many > years. > > Basically, any reporter should view extraordinary claims associated with > Warwick with extreme caution. But that's not what happened at all. Instead, > as is all too typical with Warwick claims, the press went nutty over it, > including publications that should know better. Here are just a few sample > headlines. The absolute worst are the ones who claim this is a > "supercomputer." Obligatory xkcd: http://xkcd.com/329/ -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
