Fundamental Considerations of Competence Assessment for Validation

The paper deals with the very fundamentals of a so-called TURING test methodology for expert system validation which was proposed by its first author. First, we survey concepts of verification and validation. Our favuored concepts are lucidly characterized by the words that verification guarantees to build the system right whereas validation deals with building the right system (cf. O'Keefe, O'Leary). Next, we critically inspect the thought-experiment called the TURING test. It turns out that, although this approach may not be sufficient to reveal a system’s intelligence, it provides a suitable methodological background to certify a system’s validity. The principles of our validation approach are surveyed.