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Now that it's officially summer, it's time to be a little lazy. Take some time, get out in the open, and stare up at the sky. We'll let you know about some of the things that you can expect to see in that sky in the coming months. Then, we'll turn our attention to the field of artificial intelligence research. In 1950, pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing proposed a game. A computer and a human being each would hold a typed conversation with a human judge, who would then have to figure out which was which. Turing said that if the computer could fool the judge, it could be said to be intelligent. And, Turing said, he thought that within 50 years' time, computers would be advanced enough to play his 'imitation game' so well that an average judge wouldn't have more than a 70% chance of figuring out whether the chatter was a human or a computer after five minutes of questioning. Though tests run last year on a series of chat programs found that we aren't at that point yet, many researchers in artificial intelligence say that those kind of tests aren't the point -- that A.I. technology has advanced to a level at which it can be used for useful things, even if you can tell that you're dealing with a computer. Challenges such as the Turing Test, movies, books, and television shows, keep raising the question of whether it is possible to build a machine that can think--or whether a machine can be built that can feel. In this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk about some of the different
approaches to A.I. research today, where the field stands, and where
it might be going. Call in with your thoughts and comments at 1-800-989-8255,
and share your opinions online in our Listeners'
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Guests: Eric Horvitz Cynthia Breazeal Douglas Lenat Books/Articles Discussed: Related Links: | |||
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Host/Executive Producer/Editor of Science Friday: Ira Flatow Senior Producer of Science Friday: Karin Vergoth Executive web producer: Ira Flatow Web producer: Charles Bergquist
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