Since the birth of modern computing, the question has occupied people’s minds: is it possible to build a machine that could replace humans in some way? The test developed by Alan Turing was an attempt to provide a solid empirical basis for answering this question. If the machine successfully passes this test, it can be considered that the artificial intellect possesses true consciousness.
The essence of the test is that a group of people communicate with an unknown being. The conversation will be limited to the text channel only, such as the keyboard and screen, so the result will not depend on the machine’s ability to convert words into speech. If the evaluator cannot reliably distinguish between a machine and a person, the machine is said to have passed the test. The test results do not depend on the machine’s ability to give correct answers to questions but only on how closely the answers resemble those of a human.
There are many interpretations of the Turing test, but there are three main ones, two proposed by Turing himself, and the third option, according to Saul Trager’s terminology, is the standard interpretation.The first program to pass the standard (text) Turing test will be awarded a silver medal and a reward. The first program to pass this test using text, visual and audio confirmation will be awarded a gold medal and a prize of $100,000.
The Turing test requires that the machine be able to perform all human behaviors, regardless of whether they are intelligent. It even tests behaviors that might not be considered intelligent at all, such as susceptibility to insults and frequency of typos. If a machine can mimic the various manifestations of consciousness, then humanity will have no way of proving that the signs of intelligence shown in the test are false. Insufficient study of the brain and biochemical sources of the mind makes it impossible to distinguish human intelligence and consciousness from artificial intelligence. For the same reason, it is not possible to prove why an individual human being is not a supermodern machine. Thus, signs of intelligence and intelligence exhibited by a machine when it successfully passes the Turing test may indicate the presence of consciousness.
In considering the likelihood of successfully passing this test, the question arises of the existence of philosophical zombies. These are fictional creatures used to elucidate problems related to consciousness and the relationship of consciousness to the physical world. Many scholars believe that they are at least imaginable, and some consider them possible. Nevertheless, the view that the concept is untenable has been gaining in popularity recently. Since zombies, barring various assumptions, behave exactly like normal humans, they will claim to have been conscious. Taking the position of physicalism, it was necessary either to assume that anyone, including oneself, could be a zombie or that no one could be a zombie. Consequently, this philosophical concept contains a fundamental contradiction.
Thus, knowledge of philosophy, biology, and bioethics is insufficient to prove that a machine that passes the Turing test is an unconscious being or a philosophical zombie. Arguments that artificial objects can only imitate consciousness and thought activity is not tenable. This is due to the fact that both humans and machines claiming to possess the capacity for true thinking cannot be convicted of lying.