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Turing’s National Physical Laboratory report ‘Intelligent Machinery’ (1948) lists, among reasons for assuming that machinery cannot show intelligent behaviour, the view that any intelligence a machine shows is nothing but a reflection of its creator’s, and answers that this view is like giving a teacher the credit for a pupil’s discoveries. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source; Context: primary · 2 sources
Date 1948 · event Records dated 1948 → Role Contesting Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Engagement Engages a premise. Argues that a teacher would not claim the results of a pupil he had not foreseen, and that machines already exist where this arises in a small degree. Scope and limits Recorded on the dated report; the undated typescript AMT/C/11 is its draft and carries the same two passages (pp. 2 and 4). On report p. 2 the objection’s label is corrected by hand. Later than Turing’s lecture of 1947, the earliest located contesting text.
The evidence 03 primary source Context only
‘Intelligent Machinery’, a report by A. M. Turing (1948) ↗ National Physical Laboratory, facsimile of the report (PDF) · 1948
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Source excerpt “In so far as a machine can show intelligence this is to be regarded as nothing but a reflection of the intelligence of its creator.” Location in source Report p. 1 (PDF page 3), objection (e)
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-04
Source details and check notes Authors Alan Turing Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-11-03 (SHA-256 8751a5e654f17de3684856d8ccff6c81bb31f22a28cc9f2d6ee55202b7d78088). Facsimile of the typed report: cover label ‘Intelligent Machinery / A.M. Turing / (1948)’, title sheet with ‘(1948)’, report pp. 1–2 (PDF pages 3–4) read; on p. 2 the objection label is corrected by hand. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-11-03 Language English (en) Attribution Alan Turing, “‘Intelligent Machinery’, a report by A. M. Turing (1948)”, 1948. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, antecedent texts (research/prehistory). Read on the page image for the candidate pack; it could not be matched mechanically. Facsimile without a text layer; quotations read from the page images (pdftoppm at 100 dpi, PDF pages 1–4) on 2026-11-03. Same SHA-256 as the copy a second check by a model of another family read. The objection as the report states it. No human editorial review. primary source Supports the claim
‘Intelligent Machinery’, a report by A. M. Turing (1948) ↗ National Physical Laboratory, facsimile of the report (PDF) · 1948
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Source excerpt “that intelligence in machinery is merely a reflection of that of its creator is rather similar to the view that the credit for the discoveries of a pupil should be given to his teacher.” Location in source Report p. 2 (PDF page 4), paragraph beginning 'The view'
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-04
Source details and check notes Authors Alan Turing Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-11-03 (SHA-256 8751a5e654f17de3684856d8ccff6c81bb31f22a28cc9f2d6ee55202b7d78088). Facsimile of the typed report: cover label ‘Intelligent Machinery / A.M. Turing / (1948)’, title sheet with ‘(1948)’, report pp. 1–2 (PDF pages 3–4) read; on p. 2 the objection label is corrected by hand. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-11-03 Language English (en) Attribution Alan Turing, “‘Intelligent Machinery’, a report by A. M. Turing (1948)”, 1948. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, antecedent texts (research/prehistory). Read on the page image for the candidate pack; it could not be matched mechanically. Facsimile without a text layer; quotations read from the page images (pdftoppm at 100 dpi, PDF pages 1–4) on 2026-11-03. Same SHA-256 as the copy a second check by a model of another family read. the label before these words is corrected by hand. No human editorial review. primary source Context only
‘Intelligent machinery’ (AMT/C/11), typescript with Turing’s corrections and additions ↗ King’s College Cambridge, Turing Digital Archive, AMT/C/11 · 1948
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Source excerpt “The view (d) that intelligence in machinery is merely a reflection of that of its creator is rather similar to the view that the credit for the discoveries of a pupil should be given to his teacher.” Location in source p. 4 (AMT/C/11/4), second paragraph
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-04
Source details and check notes Authors Alan Turing Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-11-02 (SHA-256 ec9ca581a095f145f8a8edee7010c6a2d5ab1f3567f0e6ac041ed13d8d0b3eb2). Archive scan (44 images) of the typescript catalogued as ‘TS, Intelligent machinery, with AMS corrections and additions’, n.d.; page 1 carries R. O. Gandy’s note ‘Turing’s typed draft’. The undated, corrected typescript draft of the report; the report’s date does not date the typescript or its corrections. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-11-02 Language English (en) Attribution Alan Turing, “‘Intelligent machinery’ (AMT/C/11), typescript with Turing’s corrections and additions”, 1948. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, antecedent texts (research/prehistory). Read on the page image for the candidate pack; it could not be matched mechanically. Scan without a text layer; quotations read from the page images (pdftoppm at 90 dpi) on 2026-11-02. The draft’s wording (typescript AMT/C/11, n.d.). No human editorial review. Status and meaning Editorial status. Machine-checked . Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document disputes the proposition or a premise it depends on. The record documents the text’s position, not who is right.
Date. Year typed on the report’s title sheet; exact day unknown.
Record ID pre-u01-turing-1948-npl-contests