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Is Your IM Buddy Really a Computer?

Posted by timothy on from the or-is-it-the-other-way-around dept.

audiovideodisco writes "Every year the Loebner Prize goes to the chatbot (and the corresponding human companion) that fares best on a Turing test administered by a panel of judges. Discover talked to Kevin Warwick, the professor who runs the competition, to get pointers on how one would go about detecting a bot. While there are some general approaches you can use, nothing is foolproof — and asking about Sarah Palin can be downright deceptive. One judge concluded an interlocutor was a bot because it didn't recognize Palin's name ... but it turned out the chatter was a French librarian who'd simply never heard of her." The chat transcripts show how difficult picking bot from non-bot is getting.

9 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. Palin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If the reply back about Sarah Palin is "She's great and would be the best person to be our next president!" you are talking to a computer.

    1. Re:Palin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      i think the bigger reason is that you still live in your parents basement

  2. re Never heard of Palin? by jelizondo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll be damn! I'd never thought there would be advantages to being a frenchman!

    --
    Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. - Cardinal Wolsey
  3. Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I for one welcome our new chatbot overlords.

    I'm totally not one of them, you can trust me.

  4. Re:even bots apparently can't spell by sexconker · · Score: 5, Funny

    no u

  5. Slash-bots? by geobeck · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder how many Slashdotters are actually bots, and how you would find us out...

    Oops, I mean--ack--
    +++out of cheese error+++
    +++please reinstall universe+++
    +++redo from start+++

    --
    Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
  6. Re:Want to see some really clever bots in action? by NevarMore · · Score: 5, Funny

    An AC, talking about personal ads, sexy webcams and borderline credit card fraud posts 3 IM handles on Slashdot and asks if we want to see them in action?

    No thank you. I got into enough trouble randomly clicking on that blacklist that got posted on Wikileaks.

  7. Re:Change we can believe in. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's nothing - I've been sleeping with a bot for 22 years.

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  8. Re:Change we can believe in. by Hordeking · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's nothing - I've been sleeping with a bot for 22 years.

    Your hand is not cybernetic! Now, write that on the blackboard 500 times.

    --
    Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci