The Turing Test

Prof Noel Sharkey of Sheffield University will be on the judging panel for the Loebner prize at Magee in September.

The International Loebner Prize 2013 Contest in AI will be hosted at Magee on Saturday, September 14, 2013.

The contest, which is sponsored by New York philanthropist, Dr Hugh Loebner, takes Alan Turing’s postulation, ‘if a computer could think, how could we tell?’ and drives it to its extreme.

Turing developed the theoretical foundation of computing science, and gives his name to the Turing Test, which challenges robotics experts to create the most humanoid machine.

Loebner 2013 will coincide with CultureTECH 2013 and it will precede an International Workshop on ‘Waiting for Artificial Intelligence...’ also being held at the Magee Campus on Sunday, September 15, 2013.

Professor Paul Mc Kevitt of the Computer Science Research Institute (CSRI) at Magee, said: “Hugh Loebner’s choice of Ulster for this competition has not been by chance.

“Ulster’s CSRI has had an association with the field of AI research for many years, with much of the research in Computer Science on three campuses focusing on this topic. “Professor John McCarthy from Stanford University (USA), who named this field at the Dartmouth, USA conference in 1956 spoke at the Irish Artificial Intelligence and ognitive Science Conference (AICS-1997, Magee).

“Professor Noel Sharkey, Professor of AI and Robotics at The University of Sheffield, previously awarded an Honorary Doctorate (D.Sc.) by the University of Ulster (2006) and Visiting Professorship to the CSRI, is a member of the Loebner Prize 2013 international expert judging panel.

“The panel also includes Professor Emeritus Mike McTear, University of Ulster, with expertise in spoken dialogue systems and natural language processing and Dr. Roger Schank, Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University & CEO, Socratic Arts (Florida, USA), one of the founders of the fields of AI and Cognitive Science.”