What relevance does Alan Turing's controversial proposed method for testing a computer system's ability to behave 'intelligently' have in a world of ever-smarter interactive applications, robotic companions and-artificial intelligence? LAST JUNE'S Alan Turing centenary celebrations renewed debate around one of his most contentious ideas: the Turing Test. Introduced in the 1950 paper 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence', the test was Turing's first concerted attempt to address exclusively some principles of machine intelligence, with its famous opening declaration that the author proposes "to consider the question, 'Can machines think?' This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms 'machine' and 'think'. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous... [So] instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words... Are there imaginable digital computers which would do well in the imitation game?"
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