Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
against these tests for thought?
By most standards, no computer today comes close to passing a
Turing Test. Various applications have shown remarkable success
in one area or another, but no computer system demonstrates a gen
eral knowledge spanning many areas that we might recognize as in
telligent. Here are a few examples of success of programs that
demonstrate intelligent behavior in a specific context:
In 1976, Edward Shortliffe published the computer program
Mycin
that captured expertise on the treatment of bacterial
blood infections. Based on some 500 rules, Mycin asked a series
of questions related to a patient's condition and then recom
mended an appropriate treatment. Mycin also could provide the
chain of reasoning that led to its conclusions—again based on
its rules. In this work, Mycin performed as well as specialists in
the field and better than most general practitioners.
By the mid1990s, computers could transcribe speech as it
was said in normal conversation or dictation. For example,
Dragon System's NaturallySpeaking and IBM's ViaVoice are
reported to work with a 99% accuracy rate. These systems
work by dividing speech into sound pieces, called
phonemes
,
and then considering how these sounds might fit together to
form words. Details include comparing the sound pieces with
an extensive database of phonemes through the use of statis
tical modeling.
In May 1997, IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer won a six
game chess match against World Champion Garry Kasparov,
3.5-2.5, following standard tournament conditions. To ac
complish this level of proficiency, Deep Blue was built upon a
reasonably generalpurpose, highperformance computing
system with many processors. Many details, however, were
designed specifically to play chess. For example, the computer
contained a database containing details of hundreds of tour
nament chess matches. Also, the computer could review
100-200 billion positions in the 3 minutes it could take, on
average, between moves, according to tournament rules.
Before making a move, Deep Blue would consult any relevant
