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For the First Time Ever, a Computer Passed Turing Test for Artificial Intelligence

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lostlakehiker6/10/2014 4:49:55 pm PDT

The whole point of the Turing test was that it would be a benchmark that was clear and well marked.

We don’t currently have chatbots that can carry on convincing, general-purpose conversations as though they were human. But AI has come a long ways on several fronts. AI programs can now drive, for instance. They can tell the difference, often enough, between skid marks and marked traffic lanes. They don’t run into walls or drive in the oncoming traffic lane. They’ll be driving taxis and long-haul trucks within 10 years.

AI programs can cooperate with human assemblers to the point that a week of training, plus being paired with an assembly robot, enables a rookie worker+robot pair to assemble any of 50 different products. In other words, assembly lines are just about obsolete.

AI programs, paired with cancer image specialists, do better at classifying biopsies than either AI, or unsupported human, interpreters.

So yes, the economic implications are considerable. The philosophical implications are weightier but harder to come to grips with.