The imitation game: Wittgenstein's influence on Turing's Test

In this paper I will illustrate the role of Wittgenstein's conception of language in Turing's proposal of the imitation game as a way to evaluate machine intelligence. The thesis of the paper is that, though during their meetings in Cambridge Turing and Wittgenstein had very different approach on the philosophy of mathematics, Turing was influenced by Wittgenstein's approach to language not as a representational tool but as an operative device that worked within the context of a social environment. This conclusion is useful to infer in favor of Turing's refuse of the complete algorithmic vision of intelligence, which was instead the crucial belief of many early pioneers of 'Strong AI'.