"useful" chatterbots??
Doug DeGroot
Have there been any Chatterbots developed that actually "do" something?
Like control some equipment, search the web for specified items, send out
email, arrange meetings, etc., as well as chat with their users in a
conversational, entertaining manner? Or is the term "chatterbot"
synonymous with mindless, tricky, evasive non-semantic based responses?
(Sorry if this is a "newbie" question, but it is a quite serious one.)
I am familiar with the telephony application called WildFire, but would
like to find one or more different software apps I can examine to help me
develop a proof-of-concept demonstration for a project I am working on.
I have also seen some of the game playing chatterbots (as in those on the
Palace), but I really would like to find some non-game playing examples,
i.e., some that wer actually *useful* (to any degree!).
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Also, if you live in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area or San Jose to Palo Alto
area and have direct experience in this area, esp on the Mac, using Speech
Recognition, X-10 control, AppleScript, etc., I could sure use some paid
consulting, design, and coding help. Work could be part-time, and "at
home."
Please respond directly to:
deg...@ti.com
Thanks,
Doug DeGroot
deg...@ti.com
kevin lenzo
In article
<2EDC6108BCC5CA9B.B7CFD9ED...@library-proxy.airnews.net>,
deg...@airmail.net (Doug DeGroot) wrote:
> Have there been any Chatterbots developed that actually "do" something?
> Like control some equipment, search the web for specified items, send out
> email, arrange meetings, etc., as well as chat with their users in a
> conversational, entertaining manner? Or is the term "chatterbot"
> synonymous with mindless, tricky, evasive non-semantic based responses?
> (Sorry if this is a "newbie" question, but it is a quite serious one.)
>
...
>
> Thanks,
> Doug DeGroot
> deg...@ti.com
I have several infobots on Internet Relay Chat that use
shallow methods to learn from communities of people and
answer in natural language to questions on IRC. The
most notable one is url, who lives on several channels and
will soon span several IRC networks.
oznoid: does anyone know where stuffit expander is?
url: i heard stuffit expander was at
ftp://ftp.scruz.net/users/aladdin/public/ OR ftp://ftp.aladdinsys.com of
course or at
http://www.valleynet.com/~mmelgoza/stuffit_exp_40_installer.bin or at
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cmp/stuffit-expander-401.hqx
Egran: hey url
url: hi, Egran
tmakr: url, internet font archive
url: internet font archive is at
http://www.ora.com/homepages/comp.fonts/ifa/ or
http://www.ora.com/homepages/comp.fonts/ifa/macumich/index.htm
oznoid: url, status?
url: Since Mon Jun 2 17:40:13 1997, there have been 137
modifications and 455 questions. I have been awake for 23 hours, 1
minute, and 46 seconds this session, and currently reference 33293
factoids.
oznoid: where can i find zzzz?
url: zzzz is at http://www.zzzz.com
oznoid: url, forget zzz
Pfhydeaux: url, www.zzzz.com?
url: www.zzzz.com is 206.136.230.244
It's hard to get a feel for just how useful this is without seeing it being
used by the channels it lives on. For instance, #macintosh regularly
has 50 active users, most of whom know how url works... they've filled him
with over 30,000 facts that can be retrieved by content or relayed. Url
has been alive for 2 years now, and is a fixture of EFNet.
I agree, it's non-semantic, mindless, shallow methods, and a little weak
NL, but it ends up being quite useful in this collaborative setting.
Also, on the macintosh with ICeTEe installed, one can simple command-click
any of the URL's that url gives in order to invoke the proper helper;
i have become so lazy that i log into irc to ask url for things rather than
open Netscape or MSIE.
So far, url does error codes, country codes, a slew of urls, DNS lookup,
optionally Internic WHOIS, contains a vendor database, and several other
things. The front-end filters for url demand URLs, whether fully qualified
or inferrable, but hocus and script (two of my other infobots) are less
restricitve; script amounts to an online, interactive faq and manual for the
Ambrosia game Avara.
I'd be happy to talk to anyone about this, and i eventually intend to release
at least a pared-down version of the source code. I find the community use
of such a thing to be quite interesting and exciting.
kevin
le...@ri.cmu.edu
phd student, carnegie mellon robotics institute
oznoid on irc / admin for irc.cs.cmu.edu
Matthew Probert
le...@ri.cmu.edu (kevin lenzo) wrote:
>In article
><2EDC6108BCC5CA9B.B7CFD9ED...@library-proxy.airnews.net>,
>deg...@airmail.net (Doug DeGroot) wrote:
>> Have there been any Chatterbots developed that actually "do" something?
>> Like control some equipment, search the web for specified items, send out
>> email, arrange meetings, etc., as well as chat with their users in a
>> conversational, entertaining manner? Or is the term "chatterbot"
>> synonymous with mindless, tricky, evasive non-semantic based responses?
>> (Sorry if this is a "newbie" question, but it is a quite serious one.)
Servile Software produce Chatter-Bots (I hate that term, but dominant
ideology and all), for use as (amongst other things) first-level help
desk support.
Robo-Tel (and you could also use BBSChat) allow your customers to dial
your BBS and rather than speak with a human first-level help desk
support operative, type with a computer first level help desk
operative, except that it appears as though they are typing to a
human. Why the deception? It makes customers more comfortable if they
feel they are talking to a man rather than a machine.
The commercial benefits are obvious, so I shall spell them out (<G>)
MONEY!
Computer software is far cheaper to employ than a human. It doesn't
get hangovers, come in late, get fed up with awkward customers, take
long lunch breaks, get pregnant, resign, go home early or demand a pay
rise! (Although you can program these characteristics in if you like).
So now you know, Servile Software, produce SENSIBLE software for REAL
business applications......
Matt Probert
Servile Software
--+--+--+--
Visit the Servile Software home page at:
http://www.pins.co.uk/upages/probertm
for free software, psychology papers, information on AI, and much more!
Robby Glen Garner
Matthew Probert wrote:
>
> le...@ri.cmu.edu (kevin lenzo) wrote:
>
> >In article
>
><2EDC6108BCC5CA9B.B7CFD9ED...@library-proxy.airnews.net>,
> >deg...@airmail.net (Doug DeGroot) wrote:
>
> >> Have there been any Chatterbots developed that actually "do" something?
> >> Like control some equipment, search the web for specified items, send out
> >> email, arrange meetings, etc., as well as chat with their users in a
> >> conversational, entertaining manner? Or is the term "chatterbot"
> >> synonymous with mindless, tricky, evasive non-semantic based responses?
> >> (Sorry if this is a "newbie" question, but it is a quite serious one.)
>
> Servile Software produce Chatter-Bots (I hate that term, but dominant
> ideology and all), for use as (amongst other things) first-level help
> desk support.
I would like to say that your bots are well written and are
compact and speedy. I like your line of adult bots as well :)
> Robo-Tel (and you could also use BBSChat) allow your customers to dial
> your BBS and rather than speak with a human first-level help desk
> support operative, type with a computer first level help desk
> operative, except that it appears as though they are typing to a
> human. Why the deception? It makes customers more comfortable if they
> feel they are talking to a man rather than a machine.
>
> The commercial benefits are obvious, so I shall spell them out (<G>)
There are many benefits!
[I would also like to point out that Barry DeFacto began first
as the on-line customer service bot for FringeWare Inc., a
commercial venture located in Austin, Texas.
(http://www.fringeware.com)]
>
> MONEY!
>
> Computer software is far cheaper to employ than a human. It doesn't
> get hangovers, come in late, get fed up with awkward customers, take
> long lunch breaks, get pregnant, resign, go home early or demand a pay
> rise! (Although you can program these characteristics in if you like).
YES! 24hrs/day - 7 days/week
> So now you know, Servile Software, produce SENSIBLE software for REAL
> business applications......
Harry the bartender is another of my favorites of yours, but
I am also interested in DN2 and have had much inspiration
from your work and your web pages.
>
> Matt Probert
> Servile Software
>
> --+--+--+--
> Visit the Servile Software home page at:
>
> http://www.pins.co.uk/upages/probertm
>
> for free software, psychology papers, information on AI, and much more!
Dont forget the Probert Electronic Encyclopedia!
This is very useful for the desktop bot builders like me.
highest regards,
Robby Garner
Marty Stoneman
kevin lenzo wrote:
>
> In article
> <2EDC6108BCC5CA9B.B7CFD9ED...@library-proxy.airnews.net>,
> deg...@airmail.net (Doug DeGroot) wrote:
>
> > Have there been any Chatterbots developed that actually "do" something?
> > Like control some equipment, search the web for specified items, send out
> > email, arrange meetings, etc., as well as chat with their users in a
> > conversational, entertaining manner? Or is the term "chatterbot"
> > synonymous with mindless, tricky, evasive non-semantic based responses?
> > (Sorry if this is a "newbie" question, but it is a quite serious one.)
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Doug DeGroot
> > deg...@ti.com
>
> I have several infobots on Internet Relay Chat that use
> shallow methods to learn from communities of people and
> answer in natural language to questions on IRC. The
> most notable one is url, who lives on several channels and
> will soon span several IRC networks.
>
> NL, but it ends up being quite useful in this collaborative setting.
[examples given]
> I'd be happy to talk to anyone about this, and i eventually intend to release
> at least a pared-down version of the source code. I find the community use
> of such a thing to be quite interesting and exciting.
>
> kevin
> le...@ri.cmu.edu
> phd student, carnegie mellon robotics institute
> oznoid on irc / admin for irc.cs.cmu.edu
I don't know if our Anthrobotics venture fits with what you mean by
"do"-ing something, but our "humanoid" has a direct semantic connection
to the artificial worlds in which it "lives", and it can make true
reports or tell true stories about its "episodes" or answer questions
without what I think you both mean by "shallow tricks". We are seeking
collaborations to apply our stuff to the web, etc. For some brief
technical descriptions of our radically new approach, see the URL:
http://www.anthrobotics.com/anthrobotics/abottech.htm
and more detail is available in discussions with me.
Cheers
Marty
Marty Stoneman, Anthrobotics
ma...@indirect.com
211 East Osborn Road
Phoenix, AZ 85012
U.S.A.
Tel days US 602-263-9200
Tel eves US 602-264-1688
Fax US 602-234-3838
http://www.anthrobotics.com/anthrobotics/