About whether computers are still dumb or AI goalposts keep moving.
Has this happened?
Yes 68 (48%)Not sure 37 (26%)No 36 (26%)
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?
About whether computers are still dumb or AI goalposts keep moving.
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Alan Turing established a gold standard for what intelligence is quite some time ago. Modern computers still fail the unrestricted Turing test.
No doubt he'd be impressed at the progress, but failing the test is failing the test.
There is a difference between behaviors which seem intelligent (your roomba) and actual intelligence. Seemingly intelligent behavior (like Eliza) only works when your counterparty isn't too probing or discriminating. It's like a Potemkin village of intelligence; looks great, as long as you don't look too closely.