Supercomputer passes the Turing test by mimicking a teenager

After 64 long years, it looks like a machine has finally passed the Turing test for artificial intelligence. A supercomputer in a chat-based challenge fooled 33 percent of judges into thinking that it was Eugene Goostman, a fictional 13 year old boy; that's just above the commonly accepted Turing test's 30 percent threshold. Developers Vladimir Veselov and Eugene Demchenko say that the key ingredients were both a plausible personality (a teen who thinks he knows more than he does) and a dialog system adept at handling more than direct questions.

You'd have good reason to be skeptical about such bold claims. Others have touted success in the Turing test, only to be shot down later; even then, 33 percent isn't exactly a decisive margin of victory. However, Eugene's creators argue that theirs was a true test, where there were no topics deemed off-limits. They also had independent verification for the results.

AI like Eugene is still far from being truly persuasive, let alone sentient. Still, this could be a significant milestone in building computers that mimic the subtleties of human conversation. The timing is also exceptionally fitting -- it came both on the 60th anniversary of Alan Turing's death, and just months after the computing legend received a pardon that put the spotlight back on his achievements.

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Via: The Telegraph

Source: University of Reading

Tags: ai, alanturing, artificialintelligence, computers, computing, royalsociety, royalsocietyoflondon, supercomputer, turing, turingtest, universityofreading Next: Android can now wake you up when you're close to your bus stop .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Reform of the NSA project "Emptied" passes to the House, but solves supporters

This is not exactly what privacy advocates and wanted the most technology companies, but it is something. The freedom of the United States Act passed by the House of representatives, but he escaped unscathed. While the main elements that have survived, lost other changes or upset. One of the changes controversial Bill, which came from the Judicial Committee has a broader definition of a "mandate of the specific selection" you their requirements used by the NSA to define data. The original language allowed the Government tried documents in connection with a "person, firm or company. Was he recorded "Address or device" in this list, leave room for the data request which adopted very wide 303 votes on the floor of the capital against 12 votes. Of course, the original version of the law was a much narrower definition, which led many proponents of privacy such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and technology companies such as Google, to delete support for the Bill, when he leaves too much room for abuse.

The amended law would control also customers of the approval by the Director of national intelligence, rather than the Attorney General, apparently from the intelligence community to self-regulate. The level of detail, which can share the company data requirements is proposed also the Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner scale. The NSA is also entitled the devices "on" a specific target, rather than only the messages sent or received by the potential threat by get. These changes have betrayed leaving several defenders at the beginning of the printing of the draft of law. The EFF said it was "appalled" by the ' empty ' - law, which finally cleared the House. While companies such as Google and Facebook, supported the Bill have support.

But the law on the freedom of the United States is not without his supporters. Many in the House, including Sensenbrenner, believe it is a step in the right direction, it may be so low. Although this probably not the bulk-data collection is completed, it will confine access the NSA. Databases are now held by the Compagnies de Téléphone for 18 months and not indefinitely by the Government. The NSA have the information he wants, and specifically requesting the probable cause for applications. This is a pretty radical change in the current system, all data gathered by the Government, what it wants. Sensenbrenner detected problems but urged to support others that Bill said: "Let no ideal has become the enemy of the good." The Bill has the support of the White House, though it counts not much among privacy advocates.

The law on the freedom of the United States go now in the Senate the possibility of multiple changes. But if it because without significant change, it is almost guaranteed by President Barack Obama are announced.

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Source: Washington Post

More coverage: the threshold, new America Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Tags: breaking news, Congress, House of representatives, NSA, privacy, surveillance, United States freedom then act: Smartglass turns any surface into a touch screen with .fyre heat AR and .fyre-comment-divider fingertips

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Samsung and Iberia team up to put boarding passes on smartwatches

You wouldn't instantly associate Iberia with cutting-edge technology, but the Spanish airline is a paragon of modernity. The Madrid-based business already lets you print your own luggage tags, and now it's teamed up with Samsung to bring boarding passes to your smartwatch. A forthcoming update to the Iberia Android app will enable you to cross the skybridge with just a Gear 2 -- assuming, of course, that you've already got a Galaxy S5 (or another compatible device) stashed in your pocket.

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Via: WSJ

Source: Iberia (Translated)

Tags: Airline, Boarding Pass, Galaxy S5, Gear 2, Iberia, samsung, Wearables Next: Google documents confirm plans for faster public WiFi in Fiber cities
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