Whether or not the Turing Test is actually a good or even sufficient test of artificial intelligence, is a moot point. That the Turing Test is passed within the next few decades, however, is highly likely, so says creator of virtual worlds David Burden.

But the real opportunity of artificial intelligence, of a virtual world is that it gives bots an environment in which to live, grow and evolve — including evolving intelligence.

David Burden is a Chartered and European Engineer. His career started in army communications managing a range of mobile and wireless systems before joining Ascom, a Swiss telecomms company and then Aseriti, the IT arm of Severn Trent plc. During the dot com boom, he founded a wireless data company developing both WAP and Voice XML systems. In 2004, he set up Daden Ltd, a virtual worlds and information 2.0 consultancy.