Turings Test and Eliza

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Turings Test and Eliza

• Joseph Weizenbaum, 1966

2
what is intelligence?

• in particular, what would it mean for a
  computer to display human intelligence?

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Turings test (1950)

• A judge has conversations (via teletype) with two
  systems, one human, the other a machine. The
  conversations can be about anything, and proceed
  for a set period of time (e.g., an hour).
• If, at the end of this time, the judge cannot
  distinguish the machine from the human on the
  basis of the conversation, then Turing argued
  that we would have to say that the machine was
  intelligent.

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Eliza and Turings test

• the original Eliza program was not intended by
  its creator, Joseph Weizenbaum, to demonstrate
  intelligence. In fact, the general acceptance of
  ELIZA as being "intelligent" greatly concerned
  Weizenbaum, who subsequently stepped back from
  mainstream AI research
• nevertheless, Eliza stimulated much research on
  natural language understanding, now a major
  subfield of cognitive science (bringing together
  psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer
  science)

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How valuable is Turings test?

• For a landmark criticism of Turings test as a
  measure of intelligence, see Minds, Brains, and
  Programs, by John R. Searle, 1980,
• http//members.aol.com/NeoNoetics/Minds
  BrainsPrograms.html
• A good site for related resources on both sides
  of the Artificial Intelligence debate
• http//www.earlham.edu/peters/courses/mm
  /mmlinks.htm

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back to Eliza

• can you figure out how the Eliza program works?
• what ways can you think of to enhance the
  capabilities of the Eliza program?