

Some early attempts at Turing Test programs pointed out both the promise and the perils of this enterprise. In the decades since 1950, when Turing proposed the test, it has been widely influential in directing progress in the computing field in general and in artificial intelligence in particular. And we all have human acquaintances who might be judged “computer” in such a test. Some potential questions might not be “fair” to a computer. Turing’s article even anticipated several possible objections to his test, including mathematical and philosophical objections, which continue to be debated to the present day. If after, say, five minutes of testing, the majority of human interrogators are unable to determine which is which, Turing said that we could claim the computer system has achieved a certain level of intelligence.
