What the if ROBOTS were hosting their very own PODCAST? They are replacing our jobs! WE WELCOME OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS! Our listener Rod in Edinburg, Scotland wrote in and asked: “Could AI's do a PODCAST?”

We had a little bit of shade thrown at us, testing our podcasting skills with a little bit of our own kind of TURING TEST! Are we losing the ability to distinguish between a NATURAL being and an ARTIFICIAL one? Tune in and find out!

Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

More on the If this Week:

#1 Alan Turing

As depicted in the 2014 movie The Imitation Game, the figure of Alan Turing is popularly known as the genius mathematician and cryptographer working in Bletchley Park during WWII. Beyond code-breaking, however, Turing contemplates many philosophical problems in computing and machine intelligence that gave an early foundation to AI development. The Turing test, derived from the Imitation Game experiment, has had a particularly enduring legacy. Here’s a more in depth look at the specifics of the Turing test and its reception and evolvement over time.

 #2 Beating the Turing Test?

Since the establishment of the guidelines, contests such as the Loebner Prize have been hosted to give a public arena to AI programs challenging the Turing test. Out of these attempt, “Eugene”, an AI program mimicking a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy, is considered particularly successful in passing as a human. Here are transcripts of some of its conversations—you be the judge!

Another famous AI known for human-like intelligence is the chess-playing “Deep Blue”, who won a game against the chess champion Garry Kasparov. More on Deep Blue’s unpredicted seventh move and the controversy surrounding the match.

 #3 Historical Machines

Our obsession with “intelligent” machines isn’t just restricted to the modern age— History is full of all sorts of weird gadgets! As far back as the 1st century C.E., Heron of Alexandria has come up with some weird and surprisingly modern-like machines—from programmable robots to automatic doors, these imaginative creations show that AI is merely the newest step in a long-held fascination.

For more historical machinery, check out this book on medieval age robots by E.R. Truitt or this one on androids in the Enlightenment period by Adelheid Voskuhl.

#4 AI in Our Lives

While AI development might still have ways to go before it’s completely indistinguishable from humans, versions of convincing intelligent computing is already prevalent in our daily lives. Out of these, social media bots are perhaps the most frequently encountered for the average individual. Check out all the different socbot types and learn how to identify them from their sneaky disguises!

Last If of the Day:

Is this written by an AI or a college student on three hours of sleep?

(Warning: differences might be minute, judge carefully.)

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Keep On IFFin',
Philip & Matt