Turing's Test, a Beautiful Thought Experiment
Bernardo Gonçalves
TL;DR
A wealth of evidence is presented, including new archival sources, and original answers to several open questions about Turing’s 1950 paper, including its relation with early AI are given.
Abstract
In the wake of the latest trends of artificial intelligence (AI), there has been a resurgence of claims and questions about the Turing test and its value, which are reminiscent of decades of practical "Turing" tests. If AI were quantum physics, by now several "Schrödinger's" cats would have been killed. It is time for a historical reconstruction of Turing's beautiful thought experiment. This paper presents a wealth of evidence, including new archival sources, and gives original answers to several open questions about Turing's 1950 paper, including its relation with early AI.