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From: SASW%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Turing test in everyday life
Message-ID: <13426@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 5-Nov-83 15:38:00 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.13426
Posted: Sat Nov  5 15:38:00 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 9-Nov-83 07:54:24 EST
Lines: 26

From:  Steven A. Swernofsky <SASW @ MIT-MC>

Have you ever gotten one of those phone calls from people who are trying
to sell you a magazine subscription?  Those people sound *awfully* like
computers!  They have a canned speech, with canned places to wait for
human (customer) response, and they seem to have a canned answer to
anything you say.  They are also *boring*!

I know the entity at the other end of the line is not a computer
(because they recognize my voice -- someone correct me if this is not a
good test) but we might ask: how good would a computer program have to
be to fool someone into thinking that it is human, in this limited case?
I suspect you wouldn't have to do much, since the customer doesn't
expect much from the salescreature who phones.  Perhaps there is a
lesson here.

-- Steve

[There is a system, in use, that can recognize affirmative and negative
replies to its questions.  It also stores a recording of your responses
and can play the recording back to you before ending the conversation.
The system is used for selling (e.g., record albums) and for dunning,
and is effective partly because it is perceived as "mechanical".  People
listen to it because of the novelty, it can be programmed to make negative
responses very difficult, and the playback of your own replies is very
effective.  -- KIL]