The Mechanical Turk (chess-playing automaton)

The Mechanical Turk was a famous 18th-century automaton that appeared to play chess automatically. It looked like a life-sized, moving mannequin seated at a table. In reality, it was a clever illusion: a hidden human chess expert operated the machine from inside, using mechanical movements to make the moves visible to observers. The outside appearance concealed the human operator’s skills, creating the illusion of an intelligent, autonomous chess-playing machine. This device demonstrated early fascination with artificial intelligence and mechanical ingenuity, although it was ultimately a deceptive entertainment rather than a true autonomous chess computer.