Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Turing Test

We would like to invite you to join us for a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Turing Test on Thursday 2 October 2025 at The Royal Society, London.

About the event

Published in October 1950, Alan Turing’s seminal paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” proposed a test to determine whether machines could think and the hope that machines would eventually compete with humans in all intellectual fields.

75 years later we see this emergent competition between intelligent machines and humans played out in the news media, accompanied by international government interventions and widespread public concern.

We are excited to have Computer Science pioneer Dr Alan Kay, leading voice in AI Professor Emeritus Gary Marcus, and leading researcher in AI Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt FRS speaking at the event which will assemble a diversity of voices to look back at Alan Turing’s vision for Artificial Intelligence (AI), analyse the impact this has had over the last 75 years, and face the challenge of a new Turing Test that is fit for the future.

The event will be hosted by Professor Dame Wendy Hall FRS, Regius Chair of Computer Science and Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton, and Areeq Chowdhury, Head of Policy, Data and Digital Technologies at the Royal Society.

Three panel sessions will address:

• What did Turing mean? And how was it interpreted?

• How is the Turing Test being used today and is it still relevant?

• What is, or will AGI be? What should the Turing Test for the future be?

Guests will also have the opportunity to explore an AI Exhibition, curated by the Web Science Institute and The Royal Society, from Alan Turing’s early work and the beginnings of AI through to the technology shaping lives and society today.

The event will be followed by a drinks and canapes reception to close.

Important registration information

Once you have entered your details and clicked 'Register', please remain on the page to complete a short set of important questions related to this event.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a priority to the Royal Society, and we will accommodate accessibility requests where possible. Please notify us of accessibility requests as soon as possible and no later than 25 September 2025.

• The event will be live-captioned.
• Loop hearing devices are available upon request.
• There are four steps from street level to the doorway.
• There is a wheelchair lift at the entrance which is operable by reception staff. Please use the buzzer to the right of the entrance steps.
• There are a limited number of parking spaces immediately outside the front door which may be booked in advance by visitors with a Blue Badge disabled parking permit.

Organisation

The event is co-organised by The Royal Society and the Web Science Institute, University of Southampton, UK. We are grateful to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for co-sponsoring the event and for the support of the Web Science Trust.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Provisional Programme

Please note the programme subject to change

12:30 - Arrivals and registrations

AI Exhibition open in City of London Rooms

13:00 - Welcome

• Areeq Chowdhury, Head of Policy, Data and Digital Technologies at the Royal Society
• Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Director of the Web Science Institute, University of Southampton
• Professor Yannis Ioannidis, President of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)

13:10 - Keynote Talk: Re-minding and Re-asking about Humans and Thought, Dr Alan Kay, Computer Science Pioneer, Adjunct Professor at UCLA

13:50 - Panel Discussion: What did Turing mean? And how was it interpreted?

Panel Chair: Professor Thomas Irvine, University of Southampton

• Professor Sarah Dillon, University of Cambridge

• Professor Stevan Harnad, University of Southampton and Université du Québec à Montréal

• Sir Dermot Turing, The National Museum of Computing

• Responder: Dr Alan Kay

14:35 - Refreshments

15:10 - Keynote Talk: Gary Marcus, leading voice in artificial intelligence

15:35 - Panel Discussion: How is the Turing Test being used today and is it still relevant?

Panel Chair: Professor Yannis Ioannidis, ACM

• Dr Abeba Birhane, AI Accountability Lab, Trinity College, Dublin

• Dr Yarin Gal, University of Oxford and AI Security Institute

• Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, University College London

• Responder: Dr Gary Marcus

16:20 - Keynote Talk: Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Principal of Jesus College, University of Oxford

16:45 - Panel Discussion: What is, or will AGI be? What should the Turing Test for the future be?

Panel Chair: Professor Dame Wendy Hall, University of Southampton

• Dr William Isaac, Google DeepMind

• Professor Anil Seth, University of Sussex

• Professor Shannon Vallor, University of Edinburgh

• Responder: Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt

17:30 - Closing remarks: Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Alan Kay

17:40 - 19:00 - Drinks and Canapés Reception