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A recent study by UC San Diego researchers brings fresh insight into the ever-evolving capabilities of AI. The authors looked at the degree to which several prominent AI models, GPT-4, GPT-3.5, and the classic ELIZA could convincingly mimic human conversation, an application of the so-called Turing test for identifying when a computer program has reached human-level intelligence.

The results were telling: In a five-minute text-based conversation, GPT-4 was mistakenly identified as human 54 percent of the time, contrasted with ELIZA’s 22 percent. These findings not only highlight the strides AI has made but also underscore the nuanced challenges of distinguishing human intelligence from algorithmic mimicry.

The important twist in the UC San Diego study is that it clearly identifies what constitutes true human-level intelligence. It isn’t mastery of advanced calculus or another challenging technical field. Instead, what stands out about the most advanced models is their social-emotional persuasiveness. For an AI to catch (or fool a human) it has to be able to effectively imitate the subtleties of human conversation. When judging whether their interlocutor was an AI or a human, participants tended to focus on whether responses were overly formal, contained excessively correct grammar, or repetitive sentence structures, or exhibited an unnatural tone. Participants flagged stilted or inconsistent personalities or senses of humor as non-human.