What is the Turing Test?

The Turing Test, proposed by mathematician Alan Turing in 1950, is a measure of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human. In the test, a human evaluator engages in text-based conversations with both a human and a machine without knowing which is which; if the evaluator cannot reliably tell them apart, the machine is said to have passed. While influential in AI philosophy, the test has become controversial as a measure of true intelligence, as modern chatbots can mimic human conversation without genuine understanding.