Slashdot Mirror
The Virtual Teacher
Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers from Illinois and Florida are developing a networking system which will create virtual representations of real people to improve our knowledge. They will use artificial intelligence and natural language processing software to enable us to interact with these avatars. The goal of the project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is to give us the possibility to interact with these virtual representations as if they were the actual person, complete with the ability to understand and answer questions. We should see the results at the beginning of 2008 — if the researchers succeed."
Summary of article (IMHO):
Guess what. In the future, we will create avatars that will look and sound just like real people. To see how far along we are, take a look at some of these avatars
(decent graphical images, which not an AI make)
There's some money from the NSF to continue this effort.
Really smart guys are working on ways to get realistic sounding voices and
mannerisms.
We're using motion capture too.
Is this commercially viable? We'll have to see.
First of all, this virtual avatar stuff is icing on the cake. The first (easiest) Turing test implementation does not require body language, realistic avatars, or
mannerisms, and we are still YEARS from that. What makes anyone think that this is remotely possible by next year?
P.S. The submitter's name seems familiar. Where have I heard it before?
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
but can I frag them with a rail gun?
True Names by Vernor Vinge to me...
Will this be on the test?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
How is this better than a real teacher?
sic transit gloria mundi
It will never be able to be used to help in public schools because it doesn't pay union dues.
Allergies are blocking my nose, but I can still smell the stench of sensationalism with this one.
'Every story, if continued long enough, ends in death.' --Ernest Hemingway
I doubt we will see any meaningful result soon on this field. First because AI is not at this advanced point yet (in order to provide improvisation and interactivity), and the use of pre-recorded images and sounds cannot cope with the ingenuity and the unpredictability of the students. Second because human beings, although very sympathetic to the idea of talking heads (just look at clippy), in the long run get bored of it.
On the other side, I already had a couple of teachers that were completely inept to their jobs, following scripts just like a computer program with pre-recorded footage would. But computers are very unlikely to come even near to advantages a real good teacher can provide.
While the standard system will be sponsored by the NSF, the pr0n edition will be sponsored by the Not Safe For Work foundation (NSFW.........f).
P.S. The submitter's name seems familiar. Where have I heard it before?
Roland submits dozens upon dozens of stories to Slashdot. "Vacuous" is pretty accurate; I've repeatedly heard Slashdotters ask for the ability to filter his crap like we used to be able to filter Jon Katz.
The primary difference is that while Katz was batshit insane and overimpressed with himself, Roland simply states the obvious and inane in his "article", and then submits it to slashdot. He regularly does little more than quote sections of the article and supply obvious commentary...and watches the hit counts roll in.
There are two remarkable facts: one, that there isn't better content in the submission queue, and two: I don't think I've ever seen comments posted supporting him. Hilariously, on the rare occasion he does post, he's moderated down so fast, he must be on the level of the GNAA people in terms of Karma.
Since hits support Roland, I'd suggest slashdotters tag his stuff "boycottroland"
Please help metamoderate.
This comes along as an even bigger waste of time for presentations.
I know that a lot of people here at Slashdot have a burning hatred for Roland Piquepaille. But I find it confusing. The articles he submits are always very interesting, especially for those of us interested in science. They're the epitome of "news for nerds".
The problem is that he submits interesting articles which are linked via his blog. So we read a blog story about a blog story about something interesting.
He forces slashdotters to go through his site (racking up hits and advertising dollars) to read the actual interesting content...
Please help metamoderate.
He used to summarize the articles on his blog, and then submit the link to his blog on Slashdot instead of linking to the original article, which netted him ad dollars every time someone visited. Now, he submits links to the original article, but still gets a link back to his blog (if you click on his name). Most Slashdotters still hold a grudge against him for his past actions, which is understandable since he was essentially spamming.
Sent from my iPhone
"Ask Jeeves" tried to do this and failed miserably. What hope does this have? Researchers still cannot even write acceptable language translation software, and this would be far beyond that.
Okay people, move along, there's nothing to see here!
The problem is as soon as the teacher says anything like: 'Now class, I'd like you to help me do this...' WAAAJAANNAAA!!! Everyone gets a massive fine from Amazon for infringing their 'Humans Assisting Computers' patent.
I wonder if Amazon will use special lawyer avatars to hand out the court summons?
I'm going to transform myself into a mighty hawk. Either that or I'll just go and work at Dixons, haven't decided yet.
You're quite wrong; Mr. Piquepaille provides a very useful service. His summaries are of great use to busy people like myself, who wish to stay up-to-date with recent developments, but who do not have the time to read lengthy articles. He gets us the information we need in a swift and efficient manner.
And you sound very suspiciously like Roland (or CNET) astroturfing from an anonymous account. Who are you?
Please help metamoderate.
I remember this kind of thing being RSN over 20 years ago. Sure we now have good fast global networking, but otherwise it does not look like we have any real progress towards this goal.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
It's not that understandable, actually. He wasn't spamming, he was summarizing articles people found interesting. There's just a contingent of people on Slashdot are grouchy about anyone making money. Most of us don't really care if the guy gets a buck or two.
For that matter, how is it less objectionable for Slashdot itself to make ad money? They don't even bother finding the articles, or doing anything useful with them in any way. Roland at least provided something for the clicks. All we get here is inane commentary which, lets face it, is just a time sink for those of us who can't find anything better to do.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
I read the article... I can see how they'll get talking heads with the motion capture. Every other aspect of this program, though, is a long way off. I have never heard a realistic computer voice, and AI is still a joke.
Virtual representations eh?
About as useful as a virtual avatar for a search engine: http://www.msdewey.com/
Bitch never gives me what I want though!
seen that one before too.
This is an automated comment generated by a grease monkey script. If you agree that this is posted by a blog whore, or if you do not want to read any future articles with no useful or new content, you can gray out all Roland Piquepaille articles with this script:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/5735/
Enjoy!
The part that automatically posts this information is not included.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
Sure virtual teachers are great, but what will really make this complete is virtual students. Only then can we have a fully automated educational system that can operate at maximum capacity with minimum taxpayer expense. Of course, it will still be necessary to maintain colleges as fronts for basketball and football programs. This is, however, hardly without precedent.
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
How does Virtual Teacher discipline Non-Virtual Ritalin-Required Student? Shock buzzer? Stern language? Complete room lockdown with titanium sheeting? Lasers? How does Virtual Teacher respond to vulgarities? Slang?
"Yo', homes, teach me sum alg'braw 'n' shiz so I be up on da fo'-one-one and tut' me sum ladayz, fo'shizzaw muh nizza, biznatch."
"Please repeat query."
"Yo, man, dis shit is whack."
"Please repeat query."
"What da fuck."
"Please refrain from using profanity."
"Hey, fuck you, man."
"LOCK DOWN IN PROGRESS."
*CLANG CLANG CLANG*
"Cleansing speech orifice with Javex. Please wait..."
Screw the rules, I have green hair!
was a couple of days ago.
we can be reasonably sure that a virtual teacher won't virtually molest their wards.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
... they have a Mary K. Letourneau avatar available.
Have gnu, will travel.
I've just added *.primidi.com (Roland's blog) to my adblock filters. I obviously never go there intentionally, but I've clicked on his links a few times without checking the submitter name. I suggest you all do the same.
Unfortunately, the ZDnet article linked is also written by our buddy Roland. I do wish that Slashdot would give me a way to avoid his crap (or, y'know, just not approve his stories). Either way, I think the boycottroland tag will help me in the future.
Will they have sex with 13 year old horny students?
Sounds just like it, a virtual avatar that is basically an expert system designed around the memories of a real person. "Would you like an anagelsic cream for that?"
I don't need to test my programs.. I have an error correcting modem.
I bet they'll have sex with Chris Hansen.
They will use artificial intelligence and natural language processing software to enable us to interact with these avatars
Until students start complaining of this Indian accent, would researchers admit that this AI is actually backed by real humans, and it's very cost effective.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
The idea of a virtual teacher who could deliver vast amounts of information from an online database over the Internet and do so in a humanlike way, is very cool.
It would be perfect in the customer service role.
Why was I thinking about porn???
Ok, I don't actually know that this would be an easier accomplishment, but as a programmer I think it really ought to be. Lets throw some research dollars at making teachers who don't frustrate kids with their inhumanity before we try to build robots that solve the same problem. "Here's a worksheet kids, make sure you do all the problems right so that you can be ready for the scantron... err I mean midterm."
:P), but I've met less than a handfull of teachers who even bother to proofread the assignments they photocopy and hand out... we've got robots already, they're just made out of flesh. Lets work on changing the educational system to encourage teachers that encourage thinking, rather than encouraging teachers that function according to exact "programs".
I mean yeah, I've not met a teacher with a speech synthesis problem (what I presume the article was largely about
Parent post has to be a Roland sock puppet.
So mod it funny.
It is.
Because "I wish that we had more of the insightful, informative Roland Piquepaille-style articles here" has to be sarcastic, if only to avoid being pathetic.
Hmm, it took me a while to figure out your post was referencing itself with all this talk of scripting and automation.
Yes, roland really is that predictable and monotonous. Until a while ago you could spot his/its posts solely based on the link text "Read more" always present in them.
Quite frankly I think submissions linking to zdnet should be discarded in much the same way they're written - automatically.
Ronald left out the part about the system being powered by cold fusion!
Shame on this research lab. What's wrong with Perl, Python, and PHP?
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
martian timeslip
by philip k dick
back in the day we didnt have no old school
I agree. Shady, yet market-efficient ethics at best. I don't like making extra clicks to get to vacuous articles with minimal, obvious commentary (although this sounds alot like articles from wired, computerworld, pcmag, and many others). Does /. have a policy on this? Shouldn't the poster be require to link directly to actual vacuous article in question? Can't we use the power of the unfunded mandate to legislate the actions of posters? Perhaps we should take this to SCOTUS. Does Groklaw have anything on this?
We should see flying penises at the beginning of 2008 -- if the researchers succeed.
You have your answer, Daniel Jackson. :p
I still don't see how this is different from many other, worse blogs/sites linked to in slashdot articles. Why are Roland's articles so OMGHorrible (tm)? I mean, the original article is linked right there in the slashdot summary, contrary to what might be expected in any other slashdot article on a blog posting. This boycott is a bit of a flaming WTF to me, really.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Whether this article has anything cogent and relevant to say or not, this technology is inevitable. Eventually an instantly cataloged database of speeches on any topic given by the expert in that field at that time will be available for anyone to view, complete with annotated footnotes from the other experts in the field up to today. I think 2008 is a little soon to have a fully fleshed out version, somehow tied to Wikipedia and similar sources, but I can definitely see this happening to some extent by then.
Really, if I could have a digitally rendered avatar read me information I ask it by instant voice communication, that would be ultimately more thorough and better, and you can expect that to be rather seamless one of these days.
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Actually, the zdnet article he linked to is a blog that Roland writes for zdnet. So, he is still linking to his spam. Unfortunately, zdnet seems to think that Roland is providing a useful service, just like Taco does. I was sort of hoping Roland would go away, and he is only becoming more popular.
I don't believe this would benefit learning.
A real teacher interacts with his students.
He notices their behaviour and based on that he adepts his lessons.
Think of it would a digital teacher help teenagers learn (adults are much the same).
More likely computer screen colors fancy graphics will distract away from what has to be learned. Remember we probaply all had tried that web advising monkey advater that could speak and would help you search the web. Nice idea but it mainly distracts. And computers dont understand people.
If you want to learn and want to learn.
You want to do it in quikest possibble way (as learning is a boring time eating proces).
You need the get facts inside your head, you could only do that optimal in environments with minimal distraction. while your mind is 'fresh' like in the morning (not tired).
Then simply the best method is "Read a book", and make some notitions of what you read.
There realy isn't anything better then that for theoretical knowledge.
If you need practicle knowledge then the best way is do it, i can talk about sculptures, but if you would like to know what it takes to make it, you need to do it.
And so far all those modern computerized les methods, i have to say crap!
(as a teacher i've often studied the way how people learn)
I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change.
The parent links to a Greasemonkey user script that works very well to "gray-out" Roland slashvertisements on slashdot.
There's a hidden treasure in Python 3.x: __prepare__()
Why does this remind me of the avatar librarian from Time Machine?
God damnit, if you want to lose readers keep letting your fucking childish in-fighting spill onto your home page. Come on - this is one of the biggest geek news sites in existence. Act like professionals, even if it's clear that you are not.
Take your splogging to another website, jackass.
- Donny Baker
Lessee now...
- Fleshlike rubber, check
- Realistic, load-balanced, dynamic walking, check
- Natural language parsing, check
- Language understanding and response, check
It's all coming together finally. Soon, the "AI" movie scene of "take off your clothes" will become a reality! One may evolve one's traits out of society, but one'll have a hell of a fun time doing so.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Great idea, but there can be problems. Not just technically, but morally and ethically. These guys should read Neuromancer and find out how Dixie Flatline felt about existing in a ROM chip after he was dead.
Well, this time the /. editor didn't redact Roland's ZDNet blog link whorage. Please tag as 'ohnoitsroland'. Thanks for taking the time.
sigfault (core dumped)