A developer works with the Artificial Intelligence they have created, to help it beat the Turing test and convince others that it's human.
There's something oddly Blade Runner about this intriguing short film. Turing Test serves as both a fascinating piece of filmmaking and an almost prescient warning. Granted, this isn't the first film to try and warn us about Artificial Intelligence, but this one feels closer to home. It all begins with a simple conversation between said developer and their creation. A catch up, of sorts. Or at least that's how it appears. Yet right from the off, there is a sense that something is off. Leaving the viewer ill at ease, even if they're not entirely sure why. A state in which writer/director Jaschar Marktanner holds his audience for the duration.
Marlene Fahnster and Richard Lingscheidt are fantastic in the lead roles. They - along with a clever use of sets, costume and hair & makeup - add to that sense of unease with their cold back and forth, while somehow adding a human perspective on what it is to be human. A fascinatingly complex question, and in this context, a scary one also. It makes you question why we are so intent on creating this intelligence to match, maybe even rival our own. As well as why we are so desperate to make it in our own image.
Are we meddling with powers we do not fully understand or control? Probably. Ian Malcolm's line from Jurassic Park -"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." - springs to mind when watching Turing Test. The short depicts circumstances not unlike those the famous Chaotician encountered on Isla Nublar. A pinnacle moment in our scientific advancement. Albeit fictional. But in the case of AI, one that is seemingly not that far down the road. And the developer's rush within the story to get there is a warning all by itself.
Marktanner does however, go one step further with his warning about the future. It's not just about our rush to create yet another thing in the long list of things that can be detrimental to our own existence, but our weaknesses in the face of such a creation as well. Which is where Ozen Fidan's 'Henry' comes in. On the face of it an almost thankless role as the friend/colleague. However there is something important behind this otherwise everyday conversation. A chilling reminder, in fact, of our own mortality.
Test in name, test in nature, and not just for the AI depicted within. Sci-Fi may have been warning us about Artificial Intelligence for years, but the fact that this short feels a little closer to home makes it all the more engaging, and all the more sinister. In some ways it actually feels like Turing Test is checking to see if you're paying attention.
9/10
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