Computing Machinery and Knowledge

In this paper, I will examine virtue epistemology from the perspective of a nonhuman artificial intelligence (AI) agent to see whether such agent, computing machine, can be able to know things and to possess knowledge. The aim is to gain insight into what it means for a human agent to know things and to possess knowledge by comparing it to a nonhuman agent in this way. Alan Turing, one of the founding fathers of AI, wrote in his classical paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (Turing, 1950) about machine intelligence and ask whether computing machinery, digital computers, could be said to think or not. The paper also covers the ability for a machine to learn things. Turing's position was that this was possible, maybe not at his time, but that it would be possible by the end of the century. Well, the end of the century has now passed and today there is a big hype around AI and specifically related to machine learning. My intention is to review selected parts from Alan Turing's paper and put it to the test against virtue epistemology to see if our progress in the field of AI has changed anything in relation to the possibility for machines to think and know things. My hypothesis, like that of Alan Turing, is that this is possible. The question is if we are there yet or if we need to wait for another end of the century!