Today on DT Daily: Computer programmers in Russia pass a landmark test, a possible next step for controlling video games, and a man records himself getting robbed on video.
Almost 75 years ago, computer pioneer Alan Turing predicted that someday, computers would get so good at imitating humans that we wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart.
The Artificial Intelligence benchmark became known as the Turing Test, and now researchers in Russia said they’ve built a machine that has passed the test – for the first time. And it’s not so much that the computer program, given the somewhat curious name “Eugene Goostman,” can give users the right answer to any question as much as it can convince them they’re talking to a real 13-year-old boy.
If you want to chat up Eugene, go here and ask him whatever you’d like.
Video gaming’s annual super-festival, known as E3, is about to kick off and Digital Trends is on the ground in Los Angeles, looking for the next Flappy Bird… and other cool stuff. Speaking of which, check out this eye-tracking tech called Sentry.
Maker SteelSeries calls Sentry a “virtual, visual coach,” that lets players analyze eye movement and behaviors during gameplay and provides real-time feedback to help improve skills. The next step, of course, is to use the tech to actually control some aspects of gameplay, but that still appears to be a ways off. So… maybe next year?
Lots of cyclists and other adventure seekers enjoy re-living their derring-do by recording it with point-of-view cameras, of which the GoPro models are probably the most popular.
But most GoPro users probably don’t expect to capture themselves on video getting held up at gunpoint, which is exactly what happened recently to cyclist Malcolm Fox in South Africa.
As Fox pedaled along, armed gunmen suddenly descended on him, taking every valuable he had, including his bicycle. But they apparently didn’t realize the funny-looking box on his helmet was recording the whole scene in high-def, and they didn’t take that. The robbery suspects were all arrested the next day, because apparently police had a pretty good idea who they were because of the video.
It seems that falls squarely into the category of “the camera got a clear shot of the suspects.”
You host today is Greg Nibler.
