How Can You Tell If Your IM Buddy Is Really a Machine?

March 30, 2009 | Source: Discover

One of the quickest and easiest ways to sniff out a bot is to test a chatter’s medium-term memory, suggests computer scientist Kevin Warwick.

While a human will likely remember that you asked, “What color is an apple?” three minutes ago, a bot may not, so asking the same question a second time will produce an identical answer. The reverse can also be true: A computer is more likely to ask the same question twice.