• Question: Do you think a computer (robot) will ever have the capability to have a simple conversation, and make simple judgements?

    Asked by aidantoal to Willem on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi Aidantoal,

      Yes, robots that can manage a simple conversation are already here! Just look at Siri on the iPhone, and Watson, who won Jeopardy!

      There are two sides to this problem: on the one hand, hearing and speaking; on the other hand, understanding and reasoning, which (indeed!) includes making judgements.

      If you only look at written text, the first problem (hearing and speaking) goes away. The remaining problem, the problem of understanding and responding, is called the Turing Test: the challenge for the robot (or computer) is to make people believe it is a person, not a machine.

      This test has been the most important test for Artificial Intelligence since Alan Turing came up with it in 1950. But no machine has managed to pass the test yet…

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