In  1950 Alan Turing proposed his imitation game, better known as the Turing test, for determining whether a computer system claimed to adequately exhibit intelligence indeed does so. This work was carried out although no such system was anywhere in sight at the time, and we are still far from it now, many decades later. The current paper raises the similarly tantalizing question of how to test the validity of a candidate system for general odor reproduction, despite such systems still being far from viable. The reasons for the question being nontrivialare discussed , and a novel method is proposed , which involves ideas from recognition and imitation, taking advantage of the availability of near-perfect reproduction methods for sight and sound.
In a 1950 article in Mind, decades before the existence of anything resembling an artificial intelligence system, Alan Turing addressed the question of how to test whether machines can think, or in modern terminology, whether a computer claimed to exhibit intelligence indeed does so. The current paper raises the analogous issue for olfaction: how to test the validity of a system claimed to reproduce arbitrary odors artificially, in a way recognizable to humans, in face of the unavailability of a general naming method for odors. Although odor reproduction systems are still far from being viable, the question of how to test candidates thereof is claimed to be interesting and nontrivial , and a novel method is proposed . To some extent, the method is inspired by Turing`s test for AI, in that it involves a human challenger and the real and artificial entities, yet it is very different: our test is conditional, requiring from the artificial no more than is required from the original, and it employs a novel method of immersion that takes advantage of the availability of near-perfect reproduction methods for sight and sound.
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Alan Turing proposed his imitation game, better known as the Turing test, for determining
article in Mind, decades before the existence of anything resembling an artificial intelligence system, Alan Turing addressed the question of how to test whether machines can think, or in modern terminology,
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system claimed to adequately
claimed to
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This work was carried out although no such system was anywhere in sight at the time, and we are still far from it now, many decades later.
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similarly tantalizing question of
analogous issue for olfaction:
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candidate system for general odor reproduction, despite such systems still being far from viable. The reasons for the question being nontrivialare discussed
system claimed to reproduce arbitrary odors artificially, in a way recognizable to humans, in face of the unavailability of a general naming method for odors. Although odor reproduction systems are still far from being viable, the question of how to test candidates thereof is claimed to be interesting and nontrivial
R
, which involves ideas from recognition and imitation, taking
. To some extent, the method is inspired by Turing`s test for AI, in that it involves a human challenger and the real and artificial entities, yet it is very different: our test is conditional, requiring from the artificial no more than is required from the original, and it employs a novel method of immersion that takes