The Turing Test and Chat Psychotherapy 2025

 Where are we now?

The Turing Test, originally called the "Imitation Game," is a concept proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 to address the question, "Can machines think?". Instead of trying to define the complex notion of "thinking," Turing suggested a practical test to determine whether a machine could exhibit behavior indistinguishable from that of a human (Vation Ventures.com).

How it works

Participants: Three individuals participate:

The Interrogator (Judge): A human whose goal is to determine which of the other two participants is human and which is a machine.

Human Participant: A human who aims to convince the interrogator that they are human.

Machine Participant: A computer program that strives to imitate human conversation and responses so effectively that the interrogator cannot reliably distinguish it from the human participant.

Communication: All three participants are isolated from each other and communicate solely through a text-based interface (e.g., a keyboard and screen or teleprinter), ensuring that physical appearance or voice cannot influence the interrogator's judgment.

The Goal: The interrogator asks questions to both the human and the machine. The machine's objective is to provide responses that are so human-like that the interrogator cannot consistently identify which of the two respondents is the machine, according to Wikipedia.

Passing the Test: If the interrogator cannot reliably differentiate between the human and the machine, the machine is considered to have passed the Turing Test. This suggests the machine can mimic human conversation convincingly, though it doesn't necessarily imply genuine understanding or consciousness, (Vation Ventures). 

Example

Consider a judge in a room with a keyboard and screen. On the other side, connected only by text, are a human and an AI. The judge is unaware of who is who. The judge might ask:

Judge: "What is your favorite book and why?"

Human: "My favorite book is 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' I found the themes of justice and prejudice really thought-provoking, and the characters are so richly developed. It made me cry at the end."

Machine: "My favorite book is 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.' The satirical humor and philosophical undertones are quite entertaining. The ending, particularly the idea of the Answer to the Ultimate Question, is fascinating." 

The conversation could continue with questions about personal experiences, emotions, or even complex riddles. The AI would try to emulate human-like responses, including pauses, or even making mistakes to appear more authentic. If, after a series of such questions, the judge cannot confidently determine which respondent is the human and which is the machine, the AI has passed that instance of the Turing Test. 

How useful is the Turing Test in thinking about AI?

The Turing Test remains a highly influential concept in artificial intelligence, yet its usefulness in truly evaluating AI is a subject of ongoing debate.

Why it's useful

Historical significance: It was a groundbreaking thought experiment that sparked decades of research and debate in the field of AI.

A conceptual framework for thinking about AI: The Turing Test helps us consider the essence of intelligence and what it would mean for a machine to truly think or exhibit human-like intelligence.

A benchmark for Natural Language Processing (NLP): By requiring AI to mimic human conversation, the test has driven research in NLP, leading to significant advances in chatbots and language generation technologies, says the IEEE Computer Society.

Simplified evaluation of certain AI systems: For tasks where human-like interaction is crucial (like customer service chatbots), the Turing test provides a straightforward method for assessing how well the AI performs, according to BytePlus. 

Limitations and Criticisms of the Turing Test

Mimicry vs. Understanding: The test focuses on a machine's ability to imitate human conversation, but not necessarily on genuine understanding or consciousness. A machine could manipulate language patterns to fool a judge without truly grasping the meaning behind the responses, according to DDoS-Guard.

Narrow Scope: It primarily evaluates linguistic abilities and may not capture other facets of intelligence, such as creativity, emotional intelligence, or problem-solving in the physical world. The test also overlooks nonverbal forms of intelligence, according to the IEEE Computer Society.

Subjectivity: The reliance on human judgment introduces biases and inconsistencies, making the results less objective and reproducible, according to CryptLabs.

Potential for Deception: A machine could be programmed to intentionally mislead the evaluator, or even exhibit human-like flaws (like spelling errors) to appear more human, says The Conversation.

Not a measure of consciousness: The Turing Test does not aim to measure consciousness or the ability of AI to feel emotions or have subjective experiences. 

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Chat Therapy and the Turing Test

Hatch and others (2025) found that participants who looked at therapy transcripts rarely identified which responses were generated by a human therapist and which were provided by ChatGPT.

In 2023, Nov and colleagues found answers "to patient questions by Chat GPT were weakly distinguishable from provider responses."

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If you are an expert, do comment on this page. For example, are the statements here accurate or inaccurate? Should something be added to any section?

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NOTES

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on enabling computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language. It combines computer science, linguistics, and AI to allow machines to process and make sense of human language, both written and spoken.

References

Hatch SG, Goodman ZT, Vowels L, Hatch HD, Brown AL, Guttman S, et al. (2025) When ELIZA meets therapists: A Turing test for the heart and mind. PLOS Ment Health 2(2): e0000145. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000145

Nov, O., Singh, N., & Mann, D. (2023). Putting ChatGPT's Medical Advice to the (Turing) Test: Survey Study. JMIR medical education, 9, e46939. https://doi.org/10.2196/46939

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Geoffrey W. Sutton, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Evangel University, holds a master’s degree in counseling and a PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. His postdoctoral work encompassed education and supervision in forensic and neuropsychology. As a licensed psychologist, he conducted clinical and neuropsychological evaluations and provided psychotherapy for patients in various settings, including schools, hospitals, and private offices. During his tenure as a professor, Dr. Sutton taught courses on psychotherapy, assessment, and research. He has authored over one hundred publications, including books, book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed psychology journals. His website is https://suttong.com