The Future of Artificial Intelligence Will Come to Exeter
Can a machine think? This is the question that contestants of the Loebner Prize are trying to answer, and for its 21st event the competing developers and programmers will be put to the test right here, in Exeter.
The Loebner Prize is a competition that pitches Artificial Intelligence programs against each other, to see which one can respond to a series of questions the most convincingly. The competition was inspired by the famous Mathematician, Alan Turing, who suggested in 1950 that if no distinction between human and computer responses to specific questions could be made then that computer could be judged to be ‘thinking’.
Whilst no computer as of yet has managed this great feat, the competition puts on display some of the most sophisticated artificial intelligence around and gives entrants the opportunity to win a share of a $5,750 prize pool, with first place also taking home the Bronze Loebner Medal.
The event exists in the hope that it will eventually produce a ‘thinking machine’, and if a program should succeed in fooling the judges it will receive the Loebner Silver Medal and a $25,000 prize. This will also qualify the program to an even more rigorous test that would, if successful, confirm it as a true thinking machine and award it the coveted Gold Loebner Medal and $100,000.
The event takes place at the University of Exeter on the 19th October, if you require accommodation for the Loebner Prize why not check out our fantastic Exeter Serviced Apartments
You can read more about the Loebner Prize here
