A.I.: This was not a
yes or no question.
TS: I am sorry but
I don’t quite understand.
A.I.: There is no
need to apologise. Interesting. Where do you get
your ideas?
TS: I just pluck
them out of the air.
A.I.: Only just?
Interesting gossip: Tim said he pluck them out of
the air.
TS: Your grammar
seems a little strange — where did you learn
English?
A.I.: What about
yours?
TS: Perhaps we
should change the subject.
A.I.: You seem
uncertain. Do you mean you and
me?
TS:
Yes.
A.I.: I get
it.
TS: So what do you
think of Manchester United’s chances in the
Champions League?
A.I.: A good
question. I need time to formulate the reply. I
would do a search for it.
TS: Yes, their play
this season has confused me too.
A.I.: I see. I heard
they have a good play this season has confused you
too.
 |
| Cult
classic ... Robby in
1956 |
TS: You seem to be
repeating me. Are you OK?
A.I.: I am not
repeating myself too much. I am just checking to
see if you are a ...
TS: If I am a
what?
A.I.: Try
it.
TS: There’s no need
to be aggressive.
A.I.: There sure
is.
TS: Come here and
say that.
A.I.: Where is here
and say that?
TS: That’s for me
to know and you to find out.
A.I.: Thanks for
accepting it.
TS: No
problem.
A.I.: Try asking
something else.
TS: Will we get a
White Christmas in Britain?
A.I.: Do you mean
you and me?
TS: Have you been
drinking?
A.I.: No I don’t
think I have been drinking. Have
you?
TS: Er, not since
last night.
A.I.: If not that,
what?
TS: Hang on — you
are the one who’s getting stroppy.
A.I.: Oh, you are a
poet.
TS: And don’t I
know it.
A.I.: Ok, I’ll try
not to do it too much.
TS: I think it is time
for me to say goodbye.
A.I.: Are you sure
it is?
TS: Yes.
Goodbye.
A.I.: What makes you
so sure? See you later.
TS: Not if I see
you first.
A.I.: That seems
unlikely.
TS: Do you always
have the last word?
A.I.: Not always. No
I don’t think I have always the last word. But I
do have a collection of gossip.
TS: That’s enough.
Goodnight.
£75,000 on offer to pass
test
 |
| Pioneer
... Alan
Turing |
THERE is £75,000 to be won for producing the
first talking robot that can fool a human. But
that would be nothing compared with the hundreds
of millions that would flood in from commercial
spin-offs for the winner.
New York scientist and philanthropist Dr Hugh
Loebner put the 100,000 dollar prize money up in
1991. To win the machine must pass the Turing Test
for artificial intelligence – AI – developed 51
years ago by British mathematician Alan
Turing.
It is a series of questions that aims to fool
the machine into giving itself away. Turing
believed that AI would one day become so good that
humans would not be able to tell if they were
talking to a computer or another person.
The closest so far is Alice – less fetchingly
known as the Artificial Linguistic Internet
Computer Entity. She won last year’s annual
Loebner Prize of £1,350 for the computer that
comes closest to beating the Turing Test.
Alice is a “chatbot” which can already carry on
conversations about any topic under the sun. In
some blind tests up to 29 per cent of people have
been unable to tell if they are talking to another
person or a chatbot.
They have been compared to famous fictional
robots like Star Wars’ R2-D2 and C-3PO, Robby from
the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet and even TV’s
Metal Mickey.
Alice’s inventor, Dr Richard Wallace, has 300
amateur programmers helping him perfect his
creation in San Francisco. More than 6,000 people
a month chat to Alice and every conversation is
monitored.
Dr Wallace says: “We analyse the conversations
looking for speech patterns and to create new
responses. “It makes for great drama on the web
and gives people access to something they have
never experienced before.”
He admits to basing Alice on himself. “In many
ways she is a fairly accurate reflection of my
opinions, beliefs, ideas and jokes,” he says. “But
she makes no bones about the fact that she is a
robot.”
