The passing of the Turing Test

The site kurzweilai.net which devotes itself to what it labels “excelerating inteligence” recently carried an article entitled “Person or Computer: Could you Pass the Turing Test”. This brief piece discusses Alan Turing’s 1950 article in which he postulates that if after 5 minutes of text based conversation it proved impossible to determine whether the entity with whom a conversation was being conducted is human or a machine, then the computer would have achieved a certain level of intelligence.
The Turing Test has not yet been passed by a computer, however the futurist, Ray Kurzweil believes that by 2045 or thereabouts machine intelligence will reach that of humans. After this point Kurzweil holds that the intellectual capacity of machines will rapidly surpass the ability of mere mortals. .  In the view of Kurzweil it is therefore only a matter of time before a machine passes the Turing Test.
I have spent a fair amount of time over the past 2-3 years conversing with chatbots (I know I don’t get out enough)! These interactions have been both entertaining and often humorous. During all of these conversations it has remained obvious to me that I am interacting with a computer programme rather than a human being. Thus far at least the subtlety of the human brain greatly surpasses that of a computer programme. Anyone who engages for any length of time with an artificial intelligence will find it spouting nonsense. Google a couple of chatbots, engage them in conversation and you will very soon see what I mean.
For the article please visit http://www.kurzweilai.net/person-or-computer-could-you-pass-the-turing-test?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=05e0d022b5-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email