The David Sabine Test™
Published:
I’m calling it The David Sabine Test™
It’s increasingly difficult to publish something online and signal to others that you’re a real person.
A human passes The David Sabine Test when others can clearly tell they’re interacting with a human.
A human fails the test when they cannot be distinguished from a computer.
In the present day, we are flooded with AI-generated content. It floods social media, blogs, forums, even the articles of reputable journals. Readers wonder: is this human or LLM?
This is the opposite of Alan Turing’s test. (Not just the reverse. The total opposite.)
A History Lesson: Alan Turing to Present Day
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1950: Alan Turing, the world’s first Computer Scientist, asked: Can a machine imitate a human so well that a person can’t tell the difference? That question became known as The Turing Test.
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2022: ChatGPT launched on November 30 and passed the test. Many millions of people are routinely fooled by AI-generated text, images, and video.
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2026: The new challenge for humans is extravagantly ironic: We must now prove we’re not machines. I call this The David Sabine Test™.
Iterations of the Problem
| Iteration | Name | Core Idea |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Turing Test | Human thinks the machine is human. |
| 2 | Reverse Turing (eg., captcha) | Prove you’re human to a machine. |
| 3 | The David Sabine Test™ | Prove you’re human to another human. |
The David Sabine Test™ is deeply personal. It’s my struggle to sound like me while convincing you that you’re reading my words, seeing a real photo, or watching a video I captured with my own camera.
It’s also your struggle. It is ‘The [Your Name] Test’. You face the same challenge: can you post anything online that others will know came from your own hand?
Given the capabilities of AI, the test will only get harder. You are being tested in a new way. This is a test of your self. A test of your ability to express your self in a way that others are able to know it’s really you.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
Me.
(I promise. It’s me. Truly. Really! It is!)