The History of the Turing Test and How Computers Try to Pass as Human

The TED-Ed lesson “The Turing Test: Can a Computer Pass for a Human?” by Alex Gendler discusses the history of the Turing test and how computers try to pass as humans in text-based communication. The test was developed by computer scientist Alan Turing in 1950 as a way to measure a computer’s intelligence, but neither the test or artificial intelligence have progressed quite how Turing would have expected.

What is consciousness? Can an artificial machine really think? For many, these have been vital considerations for the future of artificial intelligence. But British computer scientist Alan Turing decided to disregard all these questions in favor of a much simpler one: Can a computer talk like a human? Alex Gendler describes the Turing test and details some of its surprising results.