No, AI Machines Can’t Think

null By Andy KesslerJan. 7, 2024 12:59 pm ETJournal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyBe ready for it. Sometime soon, the digirati will declare that artificial-intelligence machines have passed the Turing test and thus the era of superintelligence and sentient computers has arrived. The promised land is artificial general intelligence: AGI. Don’t fall for it. Your cranial cavity’s inner voice and self-awareness explain why.In 1950 computing pioneer Alan Turing proposed a simple “Imitation Game” test to answer the question, “Can machines think?” If an interrogator blindly connected to a machine and a human can’t tell the difference based on their answers, then the machine can think. Turing thought that by 2000 machines would be able to imitate humans 70% of the time after five minutes of discussion. He then brushed off his own analysis by saying, “The original question ‘Can machines

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Andy Kessler

Jan. 7, 2024 12:59 pm ET

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark Kelly

Be ready for it. Sometime soon, the digirati will declare that artificial-intelligence machines have passed the Turing test and thus the era of superintelligence and sentient computers has arrived. The promised land is artificial general intelligence: AGI. Don’t fall for it. Your cranial cavity’s inner voice and self-awareness explain why.

In 1950 computing pioneer Alan Turing proposed a simple “Imitation Game” test to answer the question, “Can machines think?” If an interrogator blindly connected to a machine and a human can’t tell the difference based on their answers, then the machine can think. Turing thought that by 2000 machines would be able to imitate humans 70% of the time after five minutes of discussion. He then brushed off his own analysis by saying, “The original question ‘Can machines think?’ I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion.” Instead, the Turing test simply measured if machines could fool humans. Look up the verb “ape.”