Truth Check/5 October 2026

“Griffin is the first model to pass the real-time, video Turing test”

The claim as it travelled: Tavus, 1 Oct 2026; carried by The Rundown and Superhuman, 2 Oct.

In Turing's game the judge knows a machine may be present and tries to tell; here nobody was asked until afterwards, the call lasted a minute, and the only examiner is the vendor.

Checked Against

tavus.io ↗Primary

What the Source Says

Tavus's own page: 54 people recruited through a research platform were told they would be matched with another participant for a one-minute video call; they were not told their partner might be a machine; only at the end of a survey were they asked whether it had crossed their mind. 26 of the 54 said it had not. The previous system scored 2.4% of 41. Tavus calls this "to the best of our knowledge, the first model to have ever passed the video Turing test".

The Difference

The 48% holds as the company's own figure, and the page is unusually open about the method. The 'Turing test' label is the stretch: in Turing's game the judge knows there may be a machine and tries to tell; here nobody was asked to look until afterwards, the call was one minute, and the only tester is the vendor. Verdict: the number holds, the label is overstated.

Read the Check

Tavus says Griffin is "the first model to pass the video Turing test": 26 of 54 people on a one-minute call took her for real

The company's own study, on its own page: participants were told they would be matched with another participant, were never told their partner might be a machine, and were asked only at the end whether it had crossed their mind. 48% said no. The previous system scored 2.4%. Griffin-Lite goes to "select trusted testers" only.

Every claim we have checked, in the Ledger.