Alan Turing (1912–1954) was a British mathematician, logician, computer scientist, and cryptanalyst considered nowadays one of the founding figures of modern computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

In his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (1950) Turing introduced the Turing Test (in the original paper: "Imitation Game") as a way of determining whether a machine can exhibit human-like intelligence. The test involves a human interacting with two entities via text—one is a human, the other a machine - not knowing which is which. The human can ask any questions to both parties, and if he cannot reliably tell which is the machine and which is the human, the machine is said to have passed the test. Interestingly, this paper was published in a journal called "Mind - A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy".

Turing test is a foundational concept in AI and philosophy of mind. A machine passing the Turing Test is seen as a milestone in achieving general AI. For example ChatGPT is said to approach or even pass the test. However, already decades before ChatGPT there were two early programmes claimed to come very close passing the Turing test - both related to psychology: Eliza (1966) and Parry (1972).

Eliza was created in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Eliza was one of the earliest AI programs mimicking a psychotherapist. Eliza could fool people briefly in a narrow context, and felt human-like and even empathetic to its users. Weizenbaum was shocked  how people would open their hearts to it.

Parry was created by Kenneth Colby, an American psychiatrist dedicated to the theory and application of computer science and artificial intelligence to psychiatry. Parry simulated a paranoid schizophrenic patient. In a test situation Parry was compared to actual human patients in psychiatric interviews, and psychiatrists sometimes couldn’t distinguish Parry from real patients.

Coming back to Turing, his life was exceptional and sad also from a psychological - even forensic psychological - point of view. During World War II, Turing played a central role in breaking the German Enigma code. His work helped shorten the war. However, after the war Turing got into trouble. He was openly gay in a time when homosexuality was criminalized in Britain. It was also suspected that he could spy for the Soviet Union. Eventually, he was prosecuted for "gross indecency" and was given two choices: prison or chemical castration. Turing chose chemical castration.

Turing died in 1954 under suspicious circumstances. It remains unclear whether his death by cyanide poisoning was a suicide or homicide. An apple was found on the table at Turing's home, which had cyanide in it. Turing's close ones knew that his favorite tale was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", where Snow White ate the poisonous apple and fell into "temporary death". It was also known that cyanide was available in the laboratory Turing worked at the time. Thus, suicide became the official cause of death.

Sources:

ChatGPT

Hodges, Andrew (1992). Alan Turing: The Enigma. Vintage.