ANNOUNCEMENT OF,
AND APPLICATION INFORMATION FOR,
THE 1996 LOEBNER PRIZE COMPETITION
(Rev 1/96)
The Loebner Prize and a cash award is awarded
annually to the designer of the computer system that best
succeeds in passing a variant of the Turing Test. In 1996,
$2,000 and a bronze medal will be awarded to the
designer of the Most Human Computer as rated by a panel of judges.
The Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence was
established in 1990 by Dr. Hugh Loebner and the
Cambridge (Massachusetts) Center for Behavioral Studies.
The highest-ranking human confederate will receive an
award for being the Most Human Human.
Closing date for applications for the 1996 competition is March 15, 1996.
No more than eight finalists will be chosen to compete
in a simultaneous and real-time competition on Friday,
April 16, 1996, in New York NY (date and location
subject to change).
There is no entry fee.
Applications must be accompanied by e-mail
protocols recording interactions between the computer
system to be entered and one or more human subjects.
Protocols must not exceed 2,500 words. The Cambridge Center or the Prize Committee
may request an opportunity to interact with candidate
programs.
Transcripts and scores from the 1991, 1992,
1993, and 1994 competitions may be obtained by
contacting the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
at 617-491-9020 (e-mail 76557.1175@compuserve.com).
Click here for transcripts for the 1995 contest..
Please review the accompanying rules carefully and
provide the following information:
- Name of Entrant:
- Professional Title of Entrant (if applicable):
- Affiliation (if applicable):
- Contact Person (if applicable):
- U S Postal Address:
- Telephone Number(s):
- Fax Number(s):
- E-Mail Address(es):
- Computer hardware to be employed:
- Computer software to be employed (optional):
- Enclose a protocol recording interactions between the
computer system to be entered and one or more human
subjects maximum 2,500 words.
e-mail completed applications to:
Hugh Loebner, Project Director
e-mail address: loebner@acm.org
OFFICIAL RULES
1996 LOEBNER PRIZE COMPETITION
IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
- The objective of the 1996 Loebner Prize Competition
in Artificial Intelligence is to identify the computer
system that can best succeed in passing a modern variant
of the Turing Test. Judges will attempt to distinguish
computer systems (referred to henceforward as
"contestants") from human beings (referred to
henceforward as "confederates" or "human confederates")
based on interactions with these computer entries.
- Applicants may be individuals, organizations,
businesses, schools, corporations, institutions, or other
entities. Individuals need not have institutional
affiliations. Applicants may be of any nationality or age.
Applicants may submit more than one entry during the
same year, but a separate application must be completed
for each entry.
- Applications for the 1996 Prize competition must be
submitted by electronic mail by March 15, 1996. Applications should be
submitted to: Dr. Hugh Loebner at loebner@acm.org
- If there are two or more entries there will be a
Loebner Prize contest. The medal and cash award will go
to the designer of the computer system with the highest
score.
- If there is only one entry, Loebner Prize Medal and the
$2000.00 cash award will be awarded to that entry. If
there are no entries in the 1996 Loebner Prize
Competition, the $2000.00 cash prize will be added to the
cash award for 1997, making the award for 1997
$4000.00.
- In accordance with the requirements of Dr. Loebner as
published in the June 1994 Communications of the ACM,
the winner of the Grand Prize ($100,000) must be able to deal with
audio visual data.
- It is the task of the computer entries to respond to the
communications of the judges in such a manner as to
imitate the responses of a human. No constraints will be
placed on the judges' communications. Entries must be
prepared to communicate for an indefinite period of time.
All interactions and communications must be in the English
language.
- Computer entries may contain standard or customized
software and hardware. The hardware may be of any type
as long as it is inorganic and as long as its replies are in
no manner controlled by human beings or other organic
systems in real time.
- Entries will be required to run on hardware located at
the competition site. NO TELECOMMUNICATIONS WILL BE
PERMITTED. Finalists chosen to participate may submit
their entries as programs recorded on standard machine
readable media (magnetic or optical storage) together
with operating documentation. Macintosh and IBM
compatible computers with standard mass storage
peripherals will be available on-site for the contest.
Efforts will be made to secure the use of other standard
computers such as workstations, but this can not be
guaranteed. Entrants requiring non-standard hardware
will be required to provide that hardware for operation at
the contest site. Personnel will be prepared to operate
the computer entries according to documentation
providedby the contestant.
- Appropriate steps will be taken to prevent the
unauthorized duplication or publication of contestants'
entries, however neither the Cambridge Center, the Prize
Committee, nor any of their agents can guarantee
absolute security. Contestants, by entering this contest,
imply their understanding of this and agree to hold the
Cambridge Center, the Prize Committee and their agents
harmless should there be any unauthorized duplication or
publication of programs. Entrants who wish absolute
security will be allowed to to operate their entries
and/or provide their own hardware on site.
- Computer entries will be required to record the
conversations as text files on magnetic media.
- Applications must be accompanied e-mail transcripts recording actual
interactions between the system to be entered and one or
more human beings. The protocols may not exceed 2,500 words.
- The selection process may entail interaction between
selection personnel and computer entries. Applicants
will be notified of the selection decision by Friday, April 2, 1996.
No more than eight entries will be selected as
finalists to compete in a real- time and simultaneous
contest to be held in New York, NY, on Friday, April 19, 1996
(date and location subject to change).
- Judges will have one or more opportunities to
interact with each of the computer terminals available
concurrently during the contest. Judges will be allowed
unrestricted communications. They will be informed that
at least one of the terminals is controlled by human
confederates and that at least two of the terminals are
controlled by computers.
- One or more referees may be present to limit
communications of the confederates.
- Judges will be discouraged from interacting with each
other.
- Judges will be instructed to provide ratings
of each of the terminals on "how human" each of the
hidden entitites seemed.
- The names "Loebner Prize" and "Loebner Prize
Competition" may be used by contestants in advertising
only by advance written permission of the Cambridge
Center, and their use may be subject to applicable
licensing fees. Advertising is subject to approval by
representatives of the Loebner Prize Competition.
Improper or misleading advertising may result in
revocation of the prize and/or other actions.
Data Entry, File Format, and Hardware Specifications
1. KEY ENTRY - TERMINAL DISPLAY:
a. The key sequence @,@,nn,[CR], [CR] (nn=00-99) when entered will
indicate that a new judge, Judge nn, is now entering data. Each judge
will thus identify himself/herself when moving to a new terminal.
b. Judges' questions and comments can be multiline. Each question or
comment will be entered one line at a time. Each line will be terminated by
a carriage return [CR]. Judges will key in questions and comments in response
to a ">" prompt from the program.
c. The computer will prompt the judge with a ">" character and then
echo on the screen, character by character, the judge's entry.
d. Entry of two consectutive carriage returns will indicate that the
judge's question or comment is complete and that the terminal (program or
human) must respond.
e. The terminal will display character data in a monotype font (all
characters of equal width).
EXAMPLE
Assume program is responding to current interaction with Judge 3
[some program comment-completed]
>@@04 [CR] ( New Judge, number 4 )
>[CR] ( two lines required )
Welcome judge 4 ( Comment by program (or human) )
> Do you think that the ( Multiline question from judge4)
> Republicans can succeed ( question continued line 2 )
> in winning the White House? ( question ended (first ) )
> [CR] ( second [CR] )
Only if Newt succeeds in ( Answer, line 1 )
developing a more tolerant image. ( Answer, line 2 )
>_ ( ">" prompt - judge to respond )
^ Cursor waits for input
---------------------------
2. DATA FILE FORMAT
Intent: Each program entered in the Loebner Prize Contest will produce a
text file transcript of the interactions with judges. The file should be
readable by standard text reader programs.
a. Each computer entry in the 1995 Loebner Prize Contest
shall create a text file on 3.5" diskette containing the transcript of
keyboard input and program output.
b. The file will named LP95-nn.TXT eg LP95-01.TXT. The nn (00 -> 99)
allows a program to record multiple executions on a single disk. That is,
the first execution will write LP95-01.TXT to the diskette. The second
execution will write LP95-02.TXT, etc. It is the responsibility of the
program to determine the appropriate cycle (nn).
c. The file will be in ASCII text format suitable for input into a
standard word processing program.
d. The first three lines are headers containing the following:
(c)1995 Cambridge Center For Behavioral Studies all rights reserved
[Program Name] [Contestant Name]
Start at: [YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS]
e. Each succeeding line will EITHER mirror one line displayed
on the screen, preceeded by the source "JUDGEnn" or "PROGRAM" and
time in brackets OR indicate a change of judges:"*** JUDGEnn ***"
eg: For the above interaction:
*** JUDGE04 ***
PROGRAM[14:12:25]Welcome judge 4
JUDGE04[14:12:32]Do you think that the
JUDGE04[14:12:39]Republicans can succeed
JUDGE04[14:12:55]In winning the White House?
PROGRAM[14:13:15]Only if Newt succeeds in
PROGRAM[14:13:17]developing a more tolerant image
-------------------------------