IBM Research Project Debater: Closer To Passing The Turing Test

Alan Turing, one of the founders of modern computing, posited (In "Computing Machinery and Intelligence") holding a conversation with a computer and not being able to distinguish that conversation from one with a human. One of the main goals of artificial intelligence (AI) is to pass that test. IBM Research recently announced an intriguing step towards passing the Turing test. Project Debater is an attempt to have a real-time debate with a human. The team is led by IBM's research lab in Haifa, Israel, and the result was a short debate that included four minute opening statements and four minute rebuttals by both Project Debater and Noa Ovadia, the 2016 Israel national debate champion.