The Turing Test in Ex Machina
If you are even remotely familiar with technology, sci-fi, or the world of computers, you’ve probably heard ‘Turing Test’, even if you don’t quite know what it means. It is essentially a test to see whether an Artificial Intelligence can mimic human behaviour flawlessly, essentially achieving ‘sentience’.
The basis of the 2015 film Ex Machina is the Turing test. In it, a genius multi-billionaire programmer, Nathan, developed a fully functional Artificial Intelligence called ‘Ava’ in humanoid form. One of his employees, Caleb, is invited to the his estate to test just how lifelike Ava is.
The test that we see on screen is a more sophisticated version of the original Turing test, and a more appropriate form of testing given the extent of technology there is in the story. To illustrate just what I mean, let’s first understand Turing’s original idea.
The Original Turing Test
In 1950, the renowned…
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