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by Morendil 4387 days ago
> The idea of this is not "try to break the robot"

Think of it this way. If you want to learn what constitutes strong chess play, will you learn best from playing a) yourself or b) a much stronger player?

Having a "collaborative" exchange with a chatbot is of the same strength as playing chess with yourself, for the purposes of investigating what "thinking" consists of.

The Turing Test is useful precisely when we are trying to "break the bot" as you put it; in fact, when the bot is pitted against a real human, who in that contest plays the role of the chess master.

Saying that Eugene Goostman "passed the Turing Test" is like crowning me World Chess Champion, based on the amazing record of beating 70% of a random sample of six year olds.

> "if you ran into this robot in real life

You wouldn't ever "run into" Eugene Goostman in real life, because it lacks the kind of generalist problem solving ability that would allow it to insert itself into any "real life" situation - an ability that even six year olds possess. It literally couldn't even get out the gate.

1 comments

Ok, I think this is just a perspective thing.

You're (most likely) coming from a CS background, I come from a user testing background.

If someone sits me down and says "use my site, have a conversation with a 13 year old Ukrainian".. I start having a conversation with a 13 year old Ukrainian.

Someone sits a CS major down with Eugene, the 13 year old Ukrainian, he'll drop references to AI reserch from the 60s. Something that probably one or two Ukrainian kids could ever answer.

but these bots won't cope with not being able to answer, because the human response (to learn) isn't open to them. If you sit down with a human and start talking about something they don't know, then usually (in a situation free from conflict or other emotional prompts) their curiosity prompts them to start asking questions and building a mental model of the subject that prompts further questions and they learn about the subject. The conversation builds on the learning and a real progression of thought ensues.

The chatbots can't do this, except in the most limited of ways ($job="CS scientist"), so they don't appear human.

Great point.
Chatbots seem like people when you stick to their script (or on of their conversation paths). Vary even a little and the whole charade is exposed.