About This Project
The Turing Test: A Brief History
In 1950, pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing proposed a test to determine whether a machine could exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human. This became known as the Turing Test.
Today, as AI becomes more sophisticated, we're adapting this classic test to explore a critical question: Can people distinguish AI-generated responses from human responses in sensitive mental health contexts?
What Is This Site?
This is an interactive research tool developed by the Social Intervention Group at Columbia School of Social Work. Our goal is to understand how people perceive and interact with AI in mental health contexts.
The game presents you with pairs of responses to mental health-related questions—one from a real Columbia student, one generated by AI. Your task is to identify which is which, helping us understand the nuances of human vs. AI communication in sensitive topics.
How Does It Work?
- Sign In: Authenticate with your Columbia email to begin
- Choose Your Experience: Select a mental health topic and game mode (Swipe or Click)
- Make Your Guesses: Review responses and identify which you think is human vs. AI
- See Results: After each round, discover the true sources and your accuracy
- Reflect: Consider what clues helped you distinguish (or confused you!)
What Happens to the Data?
Your gameplay data is collected for research purposes to help us understand:
- Patterns in how people identify AI vs. human content
- Which mental health topics are most challenging to distinguish
- The effectiveness of AI in replicating human empathy and nuance
All data is stored securely and used only for research. For complete details, please see our Privacy page.
Who Made This?
This project is developed and maintained by:
Principal Investigator: Elwin Wu, Professor at Columbia School of Social Work
Developer & Researcher: Zichen Zhao, Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Questions or feedback? Visit our Contact page.