Browsing by Subject "Turing Test"

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Open Access
Pragmatics in human-computer conversations
(Elsevier, 2002) Saygin, A. P.; Cicekli, I.
This paper provides a pragmatic analysis of some human-computer conversations carried out during the past six years within the context of the Loebner Prize Contest, an annual competition in which computers participate in Turing Tests. The Turing Test posits that to be granted intelligence, a computer should imitate human conversational behavior so well as to be indistinguishable from a real human being. We carried out an empirical study exploring the relationship between computers' violations of Grice's cooperative principle and conversational maxims, and their success in imitating human language use. Based on conversation analysis and a large survey, we found that different maxims have different effects when violated, but more often than not, when computers violate the maxims, they reveal their identity. The results indicate that Grice's cooperative principle is at work during conversations with computers. On the other hand, studying human-computer communication may require some modifications of existing frameworks in pragmatics because of certain characteristics of these conversational environments. Pragmatics constitutes a serious challenge to computational linguistics. While existing programs have other significant shortcomings, it may be that the biggest hurdle in developing computer programs which can successfully carry out conversations will be modeling the ability to 'cooperate'. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Open Access
Turing Test and conversation
(1999) Saygın, Ayşe Pınar
The Turing Test is one of the most disputed topics in Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. It was proposed 50 years ago, as a method to determine whether machines can think or not. It embodies important philosophical issues, as well as computational ones. Moreover, because of its characteristics, it requires interdisciplinary attention. The Turing Test posits that, to be granted intelligence, a computer should imitate human conversational behavior so well that it should be indistinguishable from a real human being. From this it follows that conversation is a crucial concept in its study. Surprisingly, focusing on conversation in relation to the Turing Test has not been a prevailing approach in previous research. This thesis first provides a thorough and deep review of the 50 years of the Turing Test. Philosophical arguments, computational concerns, and repercussions in other disciplines are all discussed. Furthermore, this thesis studies the Turing Test as a special kind of conversation. In doing so, the relationship between existing theories of conversation and human-computer communication is explored. In particular, Grice's cooperative principle and conversational maxims are concentrated on. Viewing the Turing Test as conversation and computers as language users has significant effects on the way we look at Artificial Intelligence, and on communication in general.