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In his 1950 paper 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence', Alan Turing proposed the imitation game: a judge exchanges typed messages with a hidden person and a hidden machine. If the judge cannot reliably tell which is which, the machine has done well. It became known as the Turing test.

'Computing Machinery and Intelligence', Mind, 1950

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Turing, a British mathematician, had described the basic idea of a programmable computer in 1936 and was one of the leading codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. In the paper, published in the philosophy journal Mind, he argued that 'Can machines think?' was too vague to answer, because 'machine' and 'think' are so hard to define, and replaced it with a game whose results anyone could observe. He predicted that by about 2000 an average judge would have no more than a 70 per cent chance of spotting the machine after five minutes of questions. He also answered objections one by one, including Ada Lovelace's view that machines can only do what they are told. The test is still debated: passing it shows convincing conversation, not necessarily understanding.

Türkçe oku
Alan Turing, 1950'de yayımladığı “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (Hesaplama Makineleri ve Zekâ) adlı makalede taklit oyununu önerdi. Bu oyunda bir hakem, göremediği bir insanla ve bir makineyle yazışır. Hangisinin insan olduğunu güvenle ayırt edemezse makine başarılı sayılır. Bu oyun sonradan Turing testi adıyla tanındı.
“Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, Mind, 1950

İngiliz matematikçi Turing, programlanabilir bilgisayarın temel fikrini 1936'da ortaya koymuş, İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nda da Bletchley Park'taki şifre çözücülerin önde gelenlerinden biri olmuştu. Felsefe dergisi Mind'da çıkan makalesinde, “makine” ve “düşünmek” sözcüklerini tanımlamak çok zor olduğu için “Makineler düşünebilir mi?” sorusunun fazla belirsiz kaldığını savundu. Onun yerine, sonucunu herkesin gözlemleyebileceği bir oyun önerdi. Tahminine göre 2000 yılı dolaylarında sıradan bir hakem, beş dakikalık sorgulamanın ardından makineyi en fazla yüzde 70 olasılıkla doğru bilebilecekti. Olası itirazları da tek tek yanıtladı; bunlardan biri, makinelerin yalnızca kendilerine söyleneni yapabileceğini savunan Ada Lovelace'e aitti. Test bugün de tartışılıyor: Onu geçen bir makine ikna edici bir sohbet yürütebildiğini gösterir, ama bu, söylediklerini anladığının kanıtı sayılmaz.

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Background reading: Turing test
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