Topic 7 Questions

Topic 7 Digital Automata

1.       Write one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument again the Turing test, known as the about the Chinese room.

The Turing test was introduced by Alan Turing in the 1950’s. The Turing test is a test of a machines ability to demonstrate intelligence. The test involves two humans and one machine. A human talks, in natural language conversation, with both one human and one machine, both of them trying to appear human. If the human cannot tell which the machine is and which is the human, then the machine is said to have passed the test.

The Chinese room was an argument against the Turing Test. It was developed by John Searle in 1980. Searle argued that the software ‘could pass the Turing test simply by manipulating symbols of which they had no understanding’.  Searle stated that without understanding, machines could not be described as ‘thinking’ in the same sense people do therefore the Turing test cannot prove that machines can think.

Turing, A (1950). As cited by Wikipedia (2011). The Turing Test. Retrieved on 13th of April 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test.

2.       Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high quality customer service over the web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience.

There are different types of agents. These include mobile, distributed, autonomous, fuzzy and intelligent agents. I think that virtual agent will eventually be able to successfully delivering high quality customer service over the web. As technology advances, so will virtual agents. The advantages of having virtual agents deliver customer service is no waiting in a queue on the phone to speak to another human but instant communication 24/7. A problem that could arise is the ability for the agent to pick up everyday language and interpret it and give the relevant answer. People may be annoyed if they were given irrelevant answers and therefore lead bad customer service.

Rappa, M. (2005) Automata. Retrieved on 13^th April 2011 from http://digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/automata_tr.html