A computer program at the University of Reading in the U.K. has achieved an artificial intelligence milestone by passing the venerated Turning Test. The software, called Eugene Goostman, attempts to simulate a 13-year-old Ukranian boy.

The Turing test, named after Alan Turing who introduced the idea, is used to determine if a machine exhibits intelligent behavior equivalent to or indistinguishable from humans. It has been the go-to test for artificial intelligence capabilities since the 1950s. An artificial intelligence passes the test if it is mistaken for a human by a series of judges more than 30% of the time during a series of five-minute conversations.

On June 7th, Eugene Goostman succeeded in convincing 33% of the judges at the Royal Society in London that it was human.

Other AI systems also competed in the event, including Cleverbot, Elbot, and Ultra Hal.

Eugene was created by Vladimir Veselov, a Russian-born developer who now lives in the United States. He and Eugene have participated in Turing test contests in the past and even won a 2012 competition on the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birthday in Milton Keynes, U.K. However, Eugene only succeeded in fooling the judges 29% of the time during that event.

A historic milestone

The event organizers have dubbed the event “historic,” and claim that no program has beaten the test before.

“Some will claim that the Test has already been passed,” said Kevin Warwick, a visiting professor at the University of Reading and deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University told the BBC.

However, he added that this competition differs from most in that it involved “the most simultaneous comparison tests than ever before, was independently verified and, crucially, the conversations were unrestricted.” These factors combined makes what Warwick feels is the best test possible.

Veselov attributes the success of Eugene to the software’s clever back story and the character of its apparent personality. He felt that by presenting itself as a 13-year-old boy the software had a greater chance of fooling the judges. Also, as the tests were done in English (and Eugene is Ukrainian) it would also give judges a reason to dismiss grammar and comprehension issues.

The transcripts from the competition are not yet publicly available. Independent peer-reviewed verification may have to wait until the results are published.

Talk to Eugene yourself

A public interface is available on the web for readers to talk to Eugene Groostman themselves.

The link is broken at the publication time of this article, but may be down due to high demand. Although not quite the same as speaking to a live AI, TIME magazine has an interview with Eugene Goostman.

Photo credit: BBC article on Eugene Goostman (AI), June 9 2014