Have you met Suzette? If you have, you might not know it — because Suzette has passed the Turing Test. This chatbot convinced a judge that she was a human.
The Loebner Prize is given out every year for the machine that can fool a judge they're talking to a person for the space of a conversation. The judge chats to both a human and a machine about a few subjects - such as "What is a hammer for?" - and at the end of the time period, the judge has to pick which is the bot. After a twenty-five minute conversation with Suzette, a judge picked wrong.
Suzette's secret? Good, old-fashioned human manipulation. She diverted the conversation away from subjects she couldn't keep up in, and stayed in her comfort zone. You can have a quick talk with Suzette here.
Via New Scientist.
