The two best friend, Theo and Alex were searching for something fascinating in their library at home when they found an intriguing term in one of the books.
“Look what I found”, Alex said. “Here is something written about a Turing Test.”
“What’s the Turing Test?” asked Theo.
“It’s a test to see if a computer can think and behave like a human,” explained Alex.
“That’s so cool!” exclaimed Theo. “How does it work?”
“Well,” said Alex, “according to the book, the idea is that a person has a conversation with two computers. Behind one is a human and behind the other is the software program and they are both answering the questions. If the person asking the questions cannot tell which answer is from the computer, the computer and the program have passed the Turing Test.”
Theo’s eyes widened in amazement. “Wow that is cool. I want to try it out!” he said.
Alex nodded enthuastically and they set off to create their own Turing Test. They spent hours developing a program that would mimic human responses and behavior. They included all sorts of questions and answers to make the conversation feel very natural and flowing.
After investing so much time, both of them were very eager to try their program for the first time. Theo started asking questions to Alex and the program.
“What is your favorite ice cream?” – “My favorite ice cream is stracciatella.” – “As a computer program, I don’t have the ability to taste or have personal preferences like humans do. Therefore, I don’t have a favorite ice cream.”
“Ha, that was easy!” Theo was excited, “I definitely know which answer is from Alex and which from our program.” Alex responded with less enthusiasm, “That also means, we have to improve our program. If it is so easy to find out who the person is and which the program, our program will never pass the Turing Test.”
Theo nodded, and so they went back to program some more. After long evening spent on their program, they were again ready to test it. This time they asked Alex little sister, Lola, to come over and participate in the test. Lola was skeptical at first, but she agreed to give it a try.
The conversation began, and Lola started chatting with both Theo and the computer program. She asked questions about their interests, their families, and their hobbies. Both Theo and the program responded with similar answers, and Lola was having a really hard time telling them apart.
After many tries, Lola paused and said, “This is amazing! I can’t believe it is so hard to tell Theo and the computer apart. Your program is doing so well.”
Theo and Alex exchanged a grin. They had done it! Their program had passed the Turing Test.