Introducing MegaHAL

II II II II II II II I! II II II II II Introducing MegaHAL Jason L. Hutchens Dept. of E&E Engineering University of Western Australia Nedlands W.A. 6907, Australia hut ch~ciips, ee. uwa. edu. au Michael D. Alder Dept. of Mathematics University of Western Australia Nedlands W.A. 6907, Australia mike@maths, uwa. edu. au Abstract Conversation simulators are computer pro- grams which give the appearance of convers- ing with a user in natural language. Alan Turing devised a simple test in order to de- cide whether such programs are intelligent. In 1991, the Cambridge Centre for Behavioural Studies held the first formal instantiation of the Turing Test. In this incarnation the test was known as the Loebner contest, as Dr. Hugh Loebner pledged a $100,000 grand prize for the first computer program'to pass the test. In this paper we give a brief background to the contest, before describing in detail the work- ings of MegaHAL, the primary author's entry to the 1998 Loebner contest. 1 Introduction Alan Turing was a brilliant British mathematician who played a great role in the development of the computer. The imitation game, nowadays known as the Turing test, was devised by Turing as a method for deciding whether or not a computer program is intelligent. The Turing test takes place between an interroga- tor and two subjects. The interrogator communi- cates with these subjects via a computer terminal, and must decide which is a human being and which is a computer program. The human being helps the interrogator to make the correct identification, while the computer program attempts to trick the inter- rogator into making the wrong identification. If the latter case occurs, the computer program is said to be exhibiting intelligence (Turing, 1992). One of the great advantages of the Turing test is that it allows the interrogator to evaluate almost all of the evidence that we would assume to constitute thinking (Moor, 1976). For instance, the interroga- tor can pose hypothetical situations in order to ask the subjects how they would react. Alan Turing died in 1954, a decade before con- versation simulators such as ELIZA emerged. It is indeed unfortunate that he did not live to witness his test being performed. One cannot help but think that he would have been disappointed. 2 The Loebner Contest Apart from a few limited tests performed by pro- grammers of conversation simulators (Colby, 1981), the Turing test was not formally conducted until 1995. Although the inaugural Loebner contest, held in 1991, was touted as the first formal instantiation of the Turing test, it was not until 1995 that it truly satisfied Turing's original specifications (Hutchens, 1996). The first Loebner contest was held on the 8 th of November 1991 in Boston's Computer Museum. Because this was a contest rather than an experi- ment, six computer programs were accepted as sub- jects. Four human subjects and ten judges were se- lected from respondents to a newspaper advertise- ment; none of them had any special expertise in …

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