[AI Story] Key Figures of Artificial Intelligence (1) Alan Turing

2024-07-04

At the same time, we will look at people who have had a decisive influence on AI history, appearing in the series “Crucial Moments of Artificial Intelligence,” which began serialization at the same time. As a first step, let's look back at the footsteps left by Alan Mathison Turing (Alan Mathison Turing), an indispensable person while talking about the beginning of AI.

In fact, Alan Turing is the most widely known person in the field of AI. I lived such a dramatic life that I was introduced through various pop culture contents. A movie imitation game starring Benedict Cumberbeach about his life, myths about apples that take a bite of the Apple logo, Turing tests parodied in various sci-fi works,...

Don't you think we've all seen or heard it at least once?

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Alan Turing in real life and his appearance in the movie Imitation Game, sources

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However, his appearance in pop culture is nothing more than fiction. There are many things that are true, but there are also quite a few things that are not well known. This is an opportunity to take a brief look at his actual achievements, which he is respected as the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.

Anigma decryption

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Turing Bomb in the movie Imitation Game, sources

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Alan Turing played a decisive role in Allied victory during World War II. Of course, I didn't walk around the battlefield myself; I used my mathematical talent to play an active role as a codebreaker (codebreaker). It contributed to saving many lives by playing an important role in the German military's Anigma code*, which was famous for its highest-level cryptographic system at the time.

As head of decryption, Turing developed a device called the Turing Bombe (Turing Bombe). Using this device, we were able to decipher the German military code by simulating a huge number of possible anigma combinations. The Turing Bomb also later led to the development of Colossus (Colossus) **, which is considered the world's first programmable electronic digital computer.

Turing Machine (Turing Machine)

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The appearance of a Turing machine that has actually been recreated, sources

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The Turing machine is'A fictional machine introduced by Turing to explain the algorithm'** From today's perspective, you can think of it as a simple type of computer. We designed a virtual device composed of an infinitely long band corresponding to the memory of a modern computer and a machine that reads the symbol corresponding to the CPU.

But Turing didn't actually build this machine. I proposed concepts and structures solely through mathematical imagination. However, I thought that all types of mechanical calculations could be performed using this machine.

In his 1936 paper “Computable Numbers and Applications to Crystallinity Problems,” he described the Turing machine (this article uses the expression logical calculation machine) as follows:

“... Infinite storage space appears as an infinite-length tape, which is split into squares the size of which a single symbol can be printed. At any time, a single symbol is included in the machine, and it is called a “read symbol.” This machine can change “read symbols,” and only the read symbol determines the machine's behavior. The tape can move back and forth, so every symbol will be read by the machine at least once. ” ***

Turing Test (Turing Test)

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The Turing test**** is a method for determining whether a machine has human-level intelligence. It's an important concept that has had a huge impact on artificial intelligence research since then. To develop artificial intelligence, it is necessary to be able to evaluate the intelligence of machines, and Turing proposed that method even before modern computers came out.

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“Can machine think?” The paper “Computing Machines and Intelligence,” which begins with an Iranian question, sources

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In 1950, Turing published the paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence (Computing Machinery and Intelligence).” This paper is “Can machines think (Can machinethink)?” Let's start with the famous question. And in response, I proposed the idea of an imitation game (Imitation game).

The Turing test will be conducted with a questioner who determines humans and machines in different spaces. The questioner distinguishes between humans and machines through questions and answers. In other words, if the questioner is unable to discern, it can be viewed as a machine thinking like a human being.

Through his paper, Turing also revealed his thoughts on machine learning to make thinking machines possible. He could make a machine that passes through imitation games through programming, and he predicted that it would be technically possible by 2000; I can't help but admire his amazing insight when he thought this in 1950.

While finishing

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A new £50 note with Alan Turing engraved on it, unveiled by the Bank of England, sources

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Last March, the Bank of England selected Alan Turing as the protagonist of the new £50 note. *** This was the result of beating contentious candidates such as Stephen Hawking and Margaret Thatcher. Unfortunately, although he lived an unlucky and short life, his achievements have been recognized by future generations.

Turing, who was born in 1912, was born over 100 years ago. Nevertheless, his presence remains strong. Without him, maybe today's computers wouldn't exist, or they would have evolved in a completely different direction, or at least at a much slower pace.

Turing predicted that eventually the machine would pass the tests he devised. However, it is known that there are still no successful cases except for tests in a very limited environment. That probably means there are many days left for us to work hard to answer the questions he left behind.

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