These Artificial Cells Are Not Alive - but They Just Passed the Turing Test

Scientists have built artificial cells that are so life-like, they've tricked natural cells into thinking they're communicating with one of their own. This twist on the classic Turing test means that not only can our robots fool humans into thinking they're one of us - scientists can now make artificial cells that act so real, living organisms can't tell the difference. "We have been interested in the divide between living and nonliving chemical systems for quite some time now, but it was never really clear where this divide fell," one of the team, Sheref S. Mansy from the University of Trento, Italy, told ResearchGate. "[I]t is absolutely possible to make artificial cells that can chemically communicate with bacteria." Proposed more than 60 years ago by British computer scientist Alan Turing, the Turing test is designed to evaluate the intelligence of a machine by asking one simple question - can it trick a human into thinking they're having a conversation with another human?