Introduction

Introduction: Can computers think?
They can play chess and ping-pong. They can park cars. And they can even (somewhat crudely) translate messages from one language into another. But can computers actually think? Or will they EVER be able to think? For a good article that addresses these issues, see [|here].

You should know that illl-fated computer researcher [|Alan Turing] thought it might not matter whether a computer could actually think. What mattered, said Turing, was whether it could //fool// you into thinking it could think!

Turing Test
Turing was a pioneer in the branch of computer science called [|Artificlal Intelligence] (A.I.), whose goal is to create intelligent machines.

Turing proposed his famous [|Turing Test] as a test of a machine's ability to demonstrate intelligence. In this test, a human judge sits at a teletype terminal and engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which tries to appear human. All participants are separated from one another. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test.

Bots and ChatBots
On the Internet, a [|bot] is a computer program designed to do automated tasks. A specific type of bot, known as a [|ChatBot], has, as its job, to simulate a human having an intelligent conversation.

Could a ChatBot pass the Turing Test? To help you answer that question, this Learning Unit asks you to interact with several ChatBots, and to create at least two of your own.

If you'd like to go further, you should know that several competitions are conducted annually to see who can come up with the most convincing ChatBot. A brief list is provided in the Teacher's Notes for this Learning Unit.


 * Materials & Equipment Needed For This Unit**

You'll need the following for the best experience with this Unit:
 * An internet-enabled PC, with sound card and headphones or external speakers.
 * A printout of the Response Packet for this Learning Unit, on which you can record your results. Your instructor may provide this for you.
 * A free account at the website [|www.pandorabots.com].
 * A free, 15-day trial membership, or paid "silver" subscription ($19.95/month), to [|sitepal.com].
 * A celebrity photo or personal picture in .jpg format, which you will use to create your character.

Procedure

 * 1) To get a quick preview of the idea behind this Unit, click the Lab III link at left and check out our Fake Steve Jobs.
 * 2) Next, view our [|Introductory PowerPoint slide-show] (zipped format, about 1 megabyte) for a preview of this activity. (Note: right-click the link at left and choose Save Target As... to download to your Desktop.)
 * 3) Click the menu at left and read through the Goals of this Unit.
 * 4) Click the menu at left and read through the Objectives of this Unit.
 * 5) Complete Labs I through III under the Tasks section..
 * 6) Complete the Evaluation assignment at the end.

Go on to Goals.