Turing's Imitation Game Conversations with the Unknown

Can you tell the difference between talking to a human and talking to a machine? Or, is it possible to create a machine which is able to converse like a human? In fact, what is it that even makes us human? Turing's Imitation Game, commonly known as the Turing Test, is fundamental to the science of artificial intelligence. Involving an interrogator conversing with hidden identities, both human and machine, the test strikes at the heart of any questions about the capacity of machines to behave as humans. While this subject area has shifted dramatically in the last few years, this book offers an up-to-date assessment of Turing's Imitation Game, its history, context and implications, all illustrated with practical Turing tests. The contemporary relevance of this topic and the strong emphasis on example transcripts makes this book an ideal companion for undergraduate courses in artificial intelligence, engineering or computer science.

Introduction; 1. Turing the man; Part I: 2. Turing's ideas on machine thinking and intelligence; 3. A brief introduction to artificial intelligence; 4. The controversy surrounding Turing's Imitation Game; 5. History of conversation systems - from Eliza to Eugene Goostman; 6. Matters arising from early Turing tests; Part II: 7. The 2008 Reading University Turing tests; 8. 2012 tests – Bletchley Park; 9. Interviews with elite machine developers; 10. Turing2014 - tests at The Royal Society, June 2014; 11. The reaction to Turing2014; Index.

Kevin Warwick is Emeritus Professor in the School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics at Coventry University and was a Visiting Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading. He has carried out ground-breaking research in artificial intelligence, control and robotics which has been reported widely around the world. Professor Warwick has been involved with the Turing Test for a number of years, as a Judge in 2001 and 2006, as Co-organiser in 2008, 2012 and 2014, and as the hidden human (foil for the machine) in 2012. He has authored over six hundred publications, including the successful book Artificial Intelligence: The Basics (2011).
Huma Shah is Research Fellow in the School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics at Coventry University. She has a Ph.D. in 'Deception-detection and Machine Intelligence in Practical Turing Tests' and designed the three Turing test experiments detailed in the book. She organised the 2006 and 2008 Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence and co-ordinated the Turing100 project at Bletchley Park in Alan Turing's centenary year (2012) and the Turing2014 Turing Test experiment at the Royal Society, London in June 2014.