From crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!cs.uiuc.edu!kadie Fri Sep 24 14:15:17 EDT 1993 Article: 18941 of comp.ai Xref: crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai:18941 Newsgroups: comp.ai Path: crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!cs.uiuc.edu!kadie From: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) Subject: [comp.misc] Loebner Prize Competition-Artificial Intellegence Message-ID: Followup-To: comp.ai,comp.misc Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1993 03:45:17 GMT Lines: 65 [A repost - Carl] From: jboss@nunic.nu.edu (Jim Boss) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Loebner Prize Competition-Artificial Intellegence Date: 21 Sep 1993 13:38:28 -0700 Message-ID: <27noo4$19c@nunic.nu.edu> PLEASE POST SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER, 1993 PLEASE POST CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: TURING TEST, YEAR III $100,000 LOEBNER PRIZE IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NEW YORK COMPUTER BUFF WINS 1992 CONTEST Humans were pitted against computers once again on December 15th, 1992 in the second annual search for the world's first "thinking" computer. In the contest, judges converse at computer terminals to try to determine which terminals are controlled by people and which by computers. The 1991 winning program, Joseph Weintraub's "whimsical conversation," fooled 5 of 10 judges into thinking it was a person. His 1992 entry, "Men vs. Women," competing against entries from around the country, won the December event by a narrow margin. The contest, named after benefactor Dr. Hugh G. Loebner of New York City, is administered by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and will be hosted in 1993 by National University in San Diego. Dr. Robert Epstein, a professor at both Boston University and National University, is in charge of the contest. Planning is handled by a committee of scientists and scholars from MIT, Harvard, and other universities, chaired by distinguished philosopher Daniel C. Dennett of Tufts University. Dr. Daniel Bobrow of Xerox serves as liaison to AAAI. The contest was inspired by a paper published in 1950 by the brilliant English mathematician, Alan Turing, one of the fathers of the modern computer. The tests so far are restricted, requiring computers to be conversant on only one topic. The designer of the 1992 winning entry received a bronze medal and a check for $2,000 from the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. $100,000 will be awarded when the winning program can pass an unrestricted test. When that happens, will we have the right to turn off the winning entry? Who should get the prize, the designer or the computer? Could the winning program be considered "intelligent" or "self-aware" or "conscious"? At the 1992 event, Weintraub's program fooled two of eight judges into thinking it was a person. But the human "confederates" -- hidden humans controlling some of the computer terminals -- scored much higher on the average than all of the computers. Commented Epstein, "In natural conversation, computers are still vastly inferior to people. The grand prize is well out of reach at the moment." For further information: Complete transcripts and IBM-compatible diskettes that play the 1991 and 1992 conversations in real-time may be ordered from Rachael Thompson at the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies at 617-491- 9020 (fax: 1072). Deadline for the receipt of 1993 submissions is November 1st. If you have already submitted an entry this year, please resubmit at this time. Because of a fire that razed the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in July, most of the contest records were lost. If you want to participate this year, you must submit an updated application form. The 1993 contest will be held in San Diego on Wednesday, December 8th, 1993 (participation is by modem). Application materials may be obtained from the Cambridge Center (617-491-9020, fax: 1072), or National University (619-563- 7144). Refer technical questions to Dr. Robert Epstein, (619-436-4400 [CA], -- Carl Kadie -- I do not represent any organization; this is just me. = kadie@cs.uiuc.edu = Article 14776 of cmu.cs.general: Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu cmu.cs.scs:2764 cmu.cs.general:14776 Newsgroups: cmu.cs.scs,cmu.cs.general Path: crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!copetas From: copetas+@GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU (Catherine Copetas) Subject: 1994 LOEBNER PRIZE COMPETITION IN AI/TURING TEST Message-ID: Originator: copetas@GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: news@cs.cmu.edu (Usenet News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: gandalf.cs.cmu.edu Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Date: Thu, 24 Mar 1994 09:40:23 -0500 Lines: 72 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOURTH ANNUAL TURING TEST $2,000 & Bronze Medal 1994 LOEBNER PRIZE COMPETITION IN ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE Students, faculty, organizations, and companies are invited to submit computer entries for the Fourth Annual Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Ingelligence, to be held on Monday, December 12, 1994, in San Diego. The prize is awarded annually to the best computer entry in a modified Turing Test. The Turing Test was proposed in 1950 by British mathematician Alan M. Turing. In the test, a human judge interacts, via terminals, with humans and computers. Based upon the responses, the judge must decide which terminals are controlled by computers and which are controlled by people. If a computer cannot be distinguished from a person in such a test, the computer might be said to be "thinking." In the 1993 event, held at GDE Systems in San Diego, all of the judges were members of the national press, representating TIME Magazine, Popular Science, PBS, the Voice of America, and elsewhere. The contest has drawn media attention around world, including coverage on CNN television, PBS television, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Jouranl, and many periodicals in the computer field, including Computer World and AI Magazine. The competition, named after benefactor Dr. Hugh G. Loebner of New York City, was founded by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Cambridge, MA under the guidance of scholars from MIT, Harvard University, Boston University, Tufts University, and elsewhere, and has had funding from the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Weingart Foundation, IBM's Personal Computer Company, Apple Computer, Motorola, and other companies. Dr. Robert Epstein, Research Professor at National University in San Diego, directs the events. GUIDELINES FOR 1994: Office rules and an application may be obtained by contacting: Dr. Robert Epstein, Contest Director 1087 Wookdlake Drive Cardiff by the Sea, CA 92007-1009 Tel: 619/436-4400; Fax: 619/436-4490 Internet: repstein@nunic.nu.edu The deadline for receipt of applications is November 1, 1994. Applications must be acompanied by printed protocols recording actual interaction between the system to be entered and one or more humans. The protocols may not exceed ten double-spaced pages. Applications must specify a single domain of discourse in which the computer system is proficient. The domain must be expressed by an English phrase containing no more than five words. Each entry must communicate using approximations of natural English, and it must be prepared to communicate for an indefinite period of time. Computer entires may contain standard or customized hardware and software. The hardware may be of any type as long as it is inorganic and as long as its replies are not controlled by humans responding in real time to the judges' inputs. Entrants must be prepared to interface their systems to standard computer terminals over telephone lines at 2400 baud. The prize will be awarded if there is at least one entry. ADVANCE NOTICE OF NEW GUIDELINES FOR 1995: The 1995 event will be an unrestricted Turing Test, requiring computer entries to be able to converse for an indefinite period of time with no topic restrictions. In 1995, entries may be required to run on hardware located at the competition site. We welcome feedback from the AI community regarding these and other methodological issues. FOR FUTHER INFORMATION: Complete transcripts and IBM-compatible diskettes that play the 1991, 1992, and 1993 conversations in real-time are available for purchase. Sponsorship opportunities are available. For further information about any aspect of the event, contact Dr. Robert Epstein at the address above.