Can AI Pass the Turing Test? New Research Says Yes

In 1950, Alan Turing proposed a simple test: if a machine could hold a conversation that was indistinguishable from that of a human, it could be considered intelligent. Over the decades, scientists and engineers have tried to build systems capable of passing this famous Turing Test. But until recently, no AI had convincingly done so.

Now, new research from the University of California, San Diego, shows that a large language model (LLM) called GPT-4.5 can pass a rigorous version of the Turing Test — outperforming real humans in being perceived as human. The study also found that another model, LLaMa-3.1, came close. This result represents a major shift in how we understand artificial intelligence, with big implications for society.

What Is the Turing Test?

The Turing Test was designed as a way to measure machine intelligence through natural language. In its most famous version, three people communicate via text: a human interrogator talks to both a human and a machine and must decide which one is the real person. If the machine can fool the interrogator often enough, it’s said to have passed the test.

Unlike most AI benchmarks today — which are static and narrow — the Turing Test is flexible, interactive, and adversarial. It allows people to ask any question, use any strategy, and test the machine’s ability to mimic the social and emotional aspects of being human. As AI grows more powerful, passing the Turing Test signals more than…