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Turing Test Competition At CalTech

Charles Dodgeson writes "The Turing Tournament at Cal Tech wants to know if you can program an emulator that will play games like a human, or if can you write detector that can correctly sort the wetware from the software. Before you get too excited, the "games" are very limited things. But there is a $10,000 prize for the winner. You can read the gory details."

32 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Programs to play games and programs to catch them by JHandey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Exactly how not needed do we want to make actual people?

  2. Translation, please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would someone please translate this to something than can be parsed by non-math types?

    1. Re:Translation, please. by Jason1729 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Step 1:
      Make up a set of game boards and have a group of humans each play the game on those boards. Each human will play once on each board. This gives us real human data to compare the software to.

      Step 2a:
      Let each of the submitted emulators play the game on every one of the boards created in Step 1. We now have a set of results for each human and each emulator on all the game boards

      Step 2b:
      For every detector that was submitted, give if every set of results. It returns its answer for which it thinks are humans and which are emulators in a very precise way. We now have a matrix of (number of humans + number of emulators) x (number of detectors), where each element is a mathematical answer to 'is this a human player'.

      Step 3:
      Repeat and take the average score. The Detector that was right the most wins.

      Step 4:
      The emulator that fooled the most detectors wins. If there's a tie (for either emulators or detectors) in the 95% confidence interval for the model used to compute scores, then the prize is shared among the tied entries

      Jason
      ProfQuotes

    2. Re:Translation, please. by Jason1729 · · Score: 3, Informative

      How can the human create information without an algorithm?

      What you are citing with Godel proves that humans must use algorithms too. It's just that the algorithms are very complex and not understood. The is no reason we can't learn and duplicate the human algorithms, and that's what this contest is all about.

      You do a nice job proving that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

      Jason
      ProfQuotes

  3. It's not hard to write a "gamer emulator" by JessLeah · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just make it run around shooting stuff and saying things like "lol u camping fagot!!!!" ;)

    Oh, and "my new vidcadr r0x ur world".

  4. Wetware is... by httpamphibio.us · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to The Jargon Dictionary wetware is:

    wetware /wet'weir/ n. [prob. from the novels of Rudy Rucker] 1. The human nervous system, as opposed to computer hardware or software. "Wetware has 7 plus or minus 2 temporary registers." 2. Human beings (programmers, operators, administrators) attached to a computer system, as opposed to the system's hardware or software. See liveware, meatware.

    I didn't know what it meant... figured other people may not either.

    --
    sig.
  5. No Hacking Around! by core+plexus · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From the description: " The goal of this project is to study human behavior in repeated games, and to find and document the best algorithms available. The goal is not to probe for weaknesses in the Linux operating system. Each participant has permissions to read, write and execute in your own directory (and any subdirectories of it.) You do not have permissions to read, write or execute programs in any other directory on the host computer. Any attempt to read or write from directories to which you do not have privileges will be considered an act of bad faith, and your algorithm will be disqualified from further competition in the tournament. http://turing.ssel.caltech.edu/node19.html

    Well! Never mind, then.

    Fight with computer brings SWAT team

  6. Play like a human? by gpinzone · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...if you can program an emulator that will play games like a human...

    What? You mean make a bot to miss every shot using the railgun in Quake 3? I think I can whip up some AI for ya!

    1. Re:Play like a human? by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Funny

      You'd also have to make it whine convincingly about lag, bitch about camping, and insult people's mothers.

  7. First Entry by shoemakc · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The Turing Tournament is a two sided tournament designed to find, on the one hand, the best computer programs to mimic human behavior"

    humanator2()
    {
    while (sex=="false")
    for (0:ii:4294967296) {
    if (ii mod 100!=0) {
    call dwnld_porn(kiddie);
    else
    call mstrbte();
    end;
    ii++;
    }
    }

    Note the function requires no parameters...and eventually self-destructs :-)

    -Chris

    --
    --an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--
    1. Re:First Entry by sielwolf · · Score: 4, Funny
      call dwnld_porn(kiddie);
      Hmmm. I see you loaded Peter Townsend service pack!
      --
      What is music when you despise all sound?
  8. Interesting.. by metlin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the site:

    ...
    An emulator is computer program that takes as input a stage game file, and gives as output a dataset file. ...
    The input file is in the file game.nfg, and the output file should be written in the file dataset.txt, both of which should reside in the same directory as the executable program. Note that the file game.nfg will be written into each emulator's directory by the tournament program prior to running your emulator. ...


    This is exactly the way ACM ICPC contests are conducted, except that if the systems crash for any reason, you're not given extra time to make up for it :-(

    And sadly, from the site:

    Languages supported:


    The computer program that you submit (for either an emulator or a detector) must be written in a combination of one or more of the following languages:

    C or C++
    java
    Perl
    Mathematica
    Gambit GCL


    I would have expected them to atleast add shell-scripting to this - very useful under such conditions to do some Q&D work, or would be taken for granted that since the shell can be a part of the OS, you are free to use it?

    Also, would have been nice if they'd added Python to the list, and more importantly Forth (yes, despite what you've heard, Forth is indeed useful, just look at Arthur T Murray's Mind Project).

  9. Turing Test? by $carab · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As someone who spent a lot of time working with an actual Turing Test bot, I'd just like to say that the term "Turing Test" really only applies to a "conversation" between computers and people, not emulating behavior in games, etc. I mean, when Turing wrote Computing Machinery and Intelligence, this isn't really what he envisioned to be a Turing Test.

    From what I could gather, this is a lot closer to a programming tournament rather than a Turing Test...

    1. Re:Turing Test? by Vagary · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As someone who spends more time reading research papers than working with an actual Turing Test bot, I'd just like to point out that the academic community has abstracted the term "Turing Test" into something a little more useful:

      A Turing Test is a means for judging the humanness of the behaviour of a software system. The test consists of giving similar input to both a human and an implementation of the software and then comparing or subjectively judging the output. This is often done in an interactive fashion.

      Idealised, a Turing Test consists of a human and a program receiving a bitstream and sending a bitstream back. In most examples, this bitstream consists of text in a natural language and the input and output are expected to occur interactively. However it seems likely that intelligent aliens would fail this if they didn't know the language or could not respond at a speed acceptable to the judge. Therefore your traditional definition of "Turing Test" is seen to be arbitrary.

      And no, citations are not available upon request.

  10. A computer that acts like people? by the_mad_poster · · Score: 5, Funny

    I never understood this. Why would I want a computer that ridicules my hair, dress, and generally pathetic life? If I wanted that, I'd just get married!

    --
    Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
  11. Re:useless by Charles+Dodgeson · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This is not the Loeber prize, which Pinker was describing correctly. This is a much more constrained and narrow contest, focusing on a very well studied portion of human behavior.

    Does anybody actually read the stuff pointed to before posting?

    This actually is useful, but not for AI. There is a whole branch of what is called "experimental game theory". Getting something that plays these games like humans is interesting (well, to me at least).

    --
    Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
  12. More Basic by shoemakc · · Score: 5, Funny

    REM HUMAN V2.3

    10 BUILD STUFF
    20 WANT MORE STUFF
    30 BUILD MORE STUFF
    40 WANT STUFF YOU CANT HAVE
    50 BUILD WEAPONS TO TAKE STUFF FROM WHO DOES HAVE
    60 GAIN ENEMIES
    70 BUILD BIGGER WEAPONS FOR DEFENSE
    80 BUILD SUPER WEAPON
    90 DESTROY SELVES
    99 GOTO 10

    --
    --an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--
  13. AI tournament without AI languages? by jtdubs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Amazing. They are having an AI tournament, and their supported language list includes C, C++, Java, Perl, Mathematica, and something called the Gambit Command Language.

    Where the hell are the good AI languages? Functional languages? Lisp? Scheme? Caml? SML? Hell, I'd settle for Python.

    Justin Dubs

    1. Re:AI tournament without AI languages? by metlin · · Score: 3, Informative



      They are having an AI tournament, and their supported language list includes C, C++, Java, Perl, Mathematica, and something called the Gambit Command Language.


      They're having an AI tournament on something that's more related to Game Theory and which is why GCL has been mentioned.

      GCL is a HLL that's used for testing game theory related approaches. It supports a lot of important factors in game theory related operations, like vectorization and form representaion switching.

      Read this Caltech site for more on GCL.

      GCL may not be very well known outside the AI/GT areas, since its used more in a purely CS research oriented environment. I think it started out as a series of C++ libraries for GT related stuff.

  14. It's Caltech now. by toybuilder · · Score: 4, Informative

    Page sucks!

    Oh, er, hmm. Sorry about that.

    As part of a "branding" attempt after around WWII, California Institute of Technology refers to itself as "Caltech", not "Cal Tech".

    See this Caltech Institute Archive.

  15. OK I could be wrong, but,,, by SuperCal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its been awhile sence I read about the subject, but isn't the Turing test just putting people in front of a terminal to talk to either a real person or a AI, and then asking which is the real person. When the same number of testers chose the AI as the real person, then the AI passes the test. Sence when did the Turing name apply to every AI competion? Am I wrong? This isn't a flame just a question about definitions...

    --
    Business News and Resources: www.usasource.net
  16. completely wrong by jbellis · · Score: 4, Informative

    you must have missed this node and possibly this one as well

  17. Re:Game Undefined by CommieOverlord · · Score: 5, Informative

    The game has been defined. It's fairly classic payoff matrix used in game theory. Look up the Prisoner's Dilemma (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/pd.html) problem. The goal of the game is maximize your outcome (while minimizing the opponent's).

  18. What humans are you talking about here? by rufusdufus · · Score: 4, Funny

    The following is an example game file your program is supposed to output a dataset for that is "most human". I give you:

    NFG 1 R "game1" { "1" "2" } { 2 2 }

    21 3 3 5 3 5 5 3

    What is the most human response? Anyone? Anyone?

  19. Re: Sad is by SuperMario666 · · Score: 3, Funny

    sad /sad/ adj. 1. Bereft of happiness. 2. Human beings (programmers, operators, administrators) so attached to a computer system that their hardware will never encounter any wetware.

  20. Where do they get the humans? by forii · · Score: 5, Funny
    The Turing tournament is a two sided tournament designed to find the best computer programs to mimic human behavior.


    I don't think Caltech is the best place to determine what is "human" behavior.



    Life at Caltech.



    Also, notice that this contest is being held by the "Division of Humanities and Social Sciences".

  21. Languages supported by Charles+Dodgeson · · Score: 3, Informative
    I would have expected them to at least add shell-scripting to this
    If you take a look at this section you will see that they are pretty flexible about language:
    We intend to eventually allow submission of entries in other languages besides those mentioned above. If you prefer to write your algorithm in some other language or software, please contact the Turing group via email at ...
    Also they mention the possibility of using a shell script as a wrapper.
    --
    Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
  22. Pseudoscience! I call bullshit! by rufusdufus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This 'contest' reminds of the scene in Ghostbusters where Bill Murray manipulates pre-cog cards to get women. Really, if a ESP buff were to present something like this to the Amazing Randi he would not accept it on the grounds that it was too easy to manipulate.

    First and foremost, there is a large sum of money being bandied around. The participants are incented to win by monetary payouts, and two payouts of $10,000 dollars are at stake as well. When games with this high of stakes are being played, great caution is generally used by the house.

    But look at the rules of the game...there basically are none. Participants are identified by e-mail address; no rule is specified about the number of entries per person. Also, no rule is specified about collusion between entrants (detectors and emulators). It doesn't take an einstein to figure out how to bias the results of the experient by making enough colluding entries. It is funny this, given that the games themselves are *about* collusion. Its a joke.

    Next, notice that there really isnt any way for anybody to tell if the results of the experiement are meaningful, or if they have been manipulated. Its not based on a falsafible proposition and is not scientific. Its no different from any method used by psychic hoaxers of the past. The creators of the 'contest' can manipulate the data, and direct the winnings to their confederates.

    Finally, the bizarre nature of the contest should raise some flags. They are giving out $10,000 for a program that would have been hacked together in a couple of months at most. What kind of value could you expect from a contest like this?

  23. Class of games defined; details at run time. by Charles+Dodgeson · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The class of games is extremely well defined. But the specific pay-off matrices will be input to the emulator. That is, an emulator will have to read the pay-off matrix and decide how to play it. Also note that many games of this nature will be played.

    There is a good reason for this. If the game (or a small finite set of games) were pre-defined, it would be easy to have a bunch of human subjects play it and then have the emulator regurgitate such a "book". Most entries, I suspect, will be from people or teams who are familiar with studies of how real people do play such games.

    --
    Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
  24. Here's what this is *really* about by Cedric · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a recent alum (2002), I can shed some light on some things.

    Why is this in the Deparment of Humanities and Social Sciences?

    From the URL, this Tournament is being run by the Social Sciences Experimental Laboratory (SSEL), not the CS department. The SSEL has been one of the leaders in experimental economics research (read: actually testing all those crazy theories you hear in economics classes).

    Why is there money involved?

    All experiments by the SSEL involve money. As an undergraduate, I participated in many experiments, mostly involving trading "commodities" in simple (and sometimes not-so-simple) markets. We were paid based on our performance. If I had an off night, I got paid $5 for 2 hours of the experiment. If I had a good night, I could make upwards of $80. Yes folks, this is real money we're talking about here. Since the point is to test people's economic thinking, you must make your decisions based on a real outcome, otherwise the data gathered is invalid.

    Why then are they doing this test?

    I don't work for the SSEL (and never have), but here's why I think they're doing this: Since they're interested in not only individual human behavior, but also how individuals interact and make choices based on the actions of other individuals, it would be useful to design a computer program that mimics other human's behavior. If other humans think this program acts like a human, then you can do two things: you can take the specifications of the computer program and figure out what qualities of the program humans have. As well, you can then replace humans with the computer program in real experiments (this not only allows you to test the limits of the program, but also to save money :-) )

    And as an alum (who was not too fond of his time there, but still feels compelled to defend Caltech), it's *Caltech*, not *Cal Tech* or *Cal-Tech* (but if you're feeling lazy, *caltech* is all right too).

    nak

  25. pff... real AI coders use scheme by autopr0n · · Score: 3, Funny

    (define humanator2 (lambda sex pr0n)
    (if(and sex (not (isKiddy pr0n))
    (masterbate sex pr0n)
    0)))

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
  26. One Game by The_Shadows · · Score: 5, Funny

    The only game I want to play is Global Thermonuclear War.