Unsung WWII hero AIan Turing to ‘answer questions’ of visitors in new exhibit
Alan Turing, the Godfather of Artificial Intelligence or Computing Science will soon be an ‘icon’ at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, which was a secret wartime base for the British code breakers during the World War II, BBC reported.
This life-like AI incarnation of Turing will be able to help the visitors of the museum by answering questions about his life and work. The AI character will adjust its answers depending on whether it is interacting with a person, a group of people, or children.
Bletchley Park refers to this technology as a “world first.” Speaking on behalf of the facility, director of public engagement Rebecca Foy said: “Opening at the same time as a new exhibition at Bletchley Park on AI, we are looking forward to introducing our visitors to our wartime story in a new and exciting way, highlighting the part that Codebreakers, such as Alan Turing, played in the emergence of machine learning.”
Turing’s significant contribution to the Allies in defeating Nazi Germany was mainly in the Bletchley Park where he was involved in decoding the Enigma machine. He later drew a clear architectural design of a digital computer, which included storage of programmes in the machine.
Sir Dermot Turing, a recent trustee of the Bletchley Park Trust and nephew of Alan Turing, noted that “While Turing’s seminal work on machine learning is evident in his work on machine solutions to codebreaking problems at Bletchley Park during the Second World War many people come to Bletchley Park to learn more about Alan Turing and this will be a fun way for them to do so.”
The display is being developed in partnership with UK based artificial intelligence firm, 1956 Individuals, and is expected to take some months to complete. It will engage some of the country’s top digital character artists and will answer in various languages.
