Editing Loebner Prize (section)

==Criticisms==
The prize has long been scorned by experts in the field,<ref name=Powers>{{cite web|last1=Powers|first1=David|title=The Total Turing Test and the Loebner Prize|year=1998|url=http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W98-1235|accessdate=29 May 2016}}</ref> for a variety of reasons.

It is regarded by many as a publicity stunt.<ref name=Floridi09>{{cite journal|last1=Floridi|first1=Luciano|last2=Taddeo|first2=Mariarosaria|last3=Turilli|first3=Matteo|title=Turing's Imitation Game: Still an Impossible Challenge for All Machines and Some Judges––An Evaluation of the 2008 Loebner Contest|journal=Minds and Machines|volume=19|date=2009|issue=19|pages=145–150|doi=10.1007/s11023-008-9130-6|citeseerx=10.1.1.672.7417|s2cid=7888490}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Sundman|first1=John|title=Artificial stupidity|url=http://www.salon.com/2003/02/26/loebner_part_one|website=Salon|date=27 February 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120720014628/http://www.salon.com/2003/02/26/loebner_part_one|accessdate=29 May 2016|archive-date=2012-07-20}}</ref> Marvin Minsky scathingly offered a "prize" to anyone who could stop the competition. Loebner responded by jokingly observing that Minsky's offering a prize to stop the competition effectively made him a co-sponsor.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Minsky|first1=Marvin|title=Annual Minsky Loebner Prize Revocation Prize 1995 Announcement|url=http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/minsky.txt|accessdate=29 May 2016}}</ref>

The rules of the competition have encouraged poorly qualified judges to make rapid judgements. Interactions between judges and competitors was originally very brief, for example effectively 2.5 mins of questioning, which permitted only a few questions.<ref name="Floridi09" /> Questioning was initially restricted to a single topic of the contestant's choice, such as "whimsical conversation",<ref name=Powers /><ref name=Shieber>{{cite web|last1=Shieber|first1=Stuart M.|title= Lessons from a Restricted Turing Test|year=1993|url=http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~shieber/Biblio/Papers/loebner-rev-html/loebner-rev-html.html|accessdate=2 April 2024}}</ref> a domain suiting standard chatbot tricks.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fisher|first1=Richard|title=Chatbots fail to convince despite Loebner Prize win|journal=New Scientist|date=16 May 2012|url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/05/chatbots-still-fail-to-convinc.html|accessdate=29 May 2016}}</ref>

Competition entrants do not aim at understanding or intelligence but resort to basic [[ELIZA]] style tricks,<ref name=Floridi09 /><ref>{{cite web|last1=Serck|first1=ZLinda|title=Could a computer think?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2008/10/12/turing_test_feature.shtml|website=BBC|accessdate=29 May 2016}}</ref> and successful entrants find deception and pretense is rewarded.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stephens|first1=Kenneth R.|title=What Has the Loebner Contest Told Us About Conversant Systems?|url=http://www.behavior.org/resources/325.pdf|website=www.behavior.org|publisher=Operant WebSites, Inc.|accessdate=29 May 2016}}</ref>