Intelligent Machinery (National Physical Laboratory report)
Alan Turing’s report Intelligent Machinery for the National Physical Laboratory, dated 1948 on its title sheet, read in the laboratory’s facsimile. The undated typescript with Turing’s corrections in the Turing Digital Archive (AMT/C/11) is its draft and is held as a second source.
- Issued by
- No issuing record yet. A missing record is a gap in coverage.
- Authors credited
- Alan Turing
- Dates
- Dated event (basis not stated) 1948 authorship evidence
- Exact source
- ‘Intelligent machinery’ (AMT/C/11), typescript with Turing’s corrections and additions King’s College Cambridge, Turing Digital Archive, AMT/C/11 · published 1948 · 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.
- ‘Intelligent Machinery’, a report by A. M. Turing (1948) National Physical Laboratory, facsimile of the report (PDF) · published 1948 · 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.
Appears in
- Antecedent texts: machine intelligence before 1965 →1 record on this document
- Machine succession, scale and acceleration: propositions in located texts, 1863–2026 →1 record on this document
Versions
No other versions of this document are recorded. The evidence applies to the source version listed above. Other versions, such as a preprint, working paper or journal publication, are not identified or substituted.
Issue and authorship records
Documentary relations
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Contests · 1
Propositions a passage of this document disputes, or a premise they depend on.
- A machine can only do what it is ordered to doTuring’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.1948 · event · Stated in source · Supported Inspect claim & evidence ↗A machine can only do what it is ordered to do: propositions page →
Bears on · 1
Propositions a passage comes close to without meeting the criterion; each record names what is missing.
- Machines succeed humans as the leading intelligenceTuring’s National Physical Laboratory report ‘Intelligent Machinery’ (1948) gives, as a reason why people assume that machinery cannot show intelligent behaviour, an “unwillingness to admit the possibility that mankind can have any rivals in intellectual power”, and compares it with the possibility of being superseded by another animal species.1948 · event · Stated in source · Supported Inspect claim & evidence ↗Machines succeed humans as the leading intelligence: propositions page →
Not recorded for this document: cites · cited by · explicitly credits · reports using a method from · method reported as used by · applies parts of · parts applied by · discusses · reports evaluation of. A missing record does not show that the relation does not exist.