Clive Thompson Turing tests a chatbot. Or tries, anyway.

[randomness]

"So, the last couple of days while I’ve been on IM, I’ve been pinged by “babygurl01475”. I ignored the invitations until I got bored tonight and gave in…" --Clive Thompson

Clive: You know, I can't figure out whether you're a) a chatbot, or b) a human who's working with a pre-set script that is sufficiently rigid that you *appear* to be a chatbot.
bot: no im not a bot are you?
Clive: That's an interesting question!
Clive: How would you be able to tell whether I was one or not?

(Full conversation here)

Comments

[marginaleye.livejournal.com]

I suspect that unemployed Chinese college grads will do the job cheaper (per credit card snagged) than any AI that's been written.

College grads? What about prisoners?

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'd never think of that.

The 54-year-old, a former prison guard who was jailed for three years in 2004 for "illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown,