Can a Japanese AI Get Into University?

the_newsbeagle writes "Japanese researchers are trying to develop an artificial intelligence program that can pass the standardized test required of all college-bound high school students. Interestingly, the AI is showing good progress in the history portion of the exam, because it's fairly adept at looking up answers in a vast textual database. But the so-called Todai Robot is having trouble with math, 'because the questions are presented as word problems, which the Todai Robot must translate into equations that it can solve,' as well as with physics, which 'presumes that the robot understands the rules of the universe.' If the AI does succeed in mastering the general university exam, researchers will next tackle the notoriously difficult University of Tokyo entrance exam, which will require the bot to write essays."

Re:huh

[Anonymous Coward]

Children cannot pass the Turing test either. That's why fortieth trimester abortions should be legal, because they clearly aren't human.

Re:huh

[Anonymous Coward]

Hold on there, even if they fail a Turing test, you have to give them a Voigt-Kampff test before you're allowed to kill them.

Re:huh

[SuricouRaven]

Just ask it to explain the offside rule. If it answers coherently, it's a computer.

Re:Dragon Zakura

[Thanshin]

For example to pass the English language exam it was necessary to write extremely simple but correct sentences. You lose marks for mistakes so trying to write naturally and fluently is a bad idea. Simple, factually correct statements that don't flow together are the best option.

That is false. The exam is good. Correct English has no mistakes. You know no good English.

Font issues

[Aboroth]

It's a little mean to make fun of somebody just because he's Japanese and has a non-traditional name. Or are you suggesting that guys named Al are usually dumb, but that somehow if there was a Japanese Al, he'd get some kind of racial bonus that makes up for it? If so, that's pretty racist, as well as oddly biased against people named Al.

I personally know a great guy named Al, who is probably smarter than most of you are. I have no idea where this anti-Al sentiment is coming from. It isn't like Als are routinely represented in TV and movies as being mentally deficient. For example, the character Al Borland in the show "Home Improvement" was very intelligent and had a myriad of impressive skills. Then there's Al Bundy from "Married with Children", and while he isn't highly educated, he has a significant amount of worldy wisdom and knows how to deal with all the bullshit that goes on in his life without going insane. Not to mention he scored four touchdowns in one game!

Overall I just don't understand... wait, what was that? Oh, that's an "i" not an "L". My bad. I bet Al would have caught that immediately.

Re:No.

[isorox]

Betteridge's Law of Headlines: "Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

It's more a guideline than a law - exceptions exist, but are rare. It holds true because the question-mark-headline is a sign of a story where the author has had to resort to speculation in order to make up for a rather uninteresting set of facts.

How about this following headline:

"Does Betteridge's Law of Headlines apply to this article?"