This is what bugs me about the Turing test; it doesn't answer the important, hard question of AI: is something conscious, and to what extent does it have life.
The point of the Turing test is if you can't tell the difference then it doesn't matter.
As of today you can't prove you're not in a simulation nor can you prove that every person you think is intelligent is not really an AI in that simulation.
So similarly, if an AI exists and you can't tell it's an AI no matter how hard you try then there is no reasonable difference. The are effectively the same.
The only point to Turing's test is to be double blind. You can't know before you start that the other side looks like a computer not a human or that they're voice is off or that if you cut them open they don't bleed blood etc. You have to make the test double blind and to do that a chat format is easiest.
My interetation: This is the point made by Turing.
One can only evaluate input/output. Analysis of methods/structure used by AI can not tell you if that intelligence is real or not, or is there a difference at all.
