N.Y. Times Magazine Chats With ALICE Bot Creator 238
aridg writes: "This week's New York Times Magazine has an article about Richard Wallace, the programmer of the ALICE AI chatbot that won first place in several competitions for realistic human-like conversation. Wallace sounds like a pretty unusual and interesting fellow; the article quotes an NYU prof both praising ALICE and saying to Wallace: '... I actively dislike you. I think you are a paranoid psycho.' A good read. [Usual NY Times registration disclaimers apply.]"
NYTimes random login generator. (Score:0, Interesting)
This link takes you to the automatic login generator for the NYTimes, and then sends you straight to the article.
Posted AC, to not be a karma whore.
The link you want (Score:3, Interesting)
Chat with her cousin Ally (Score:2, Interesting)
Anthromorphize much? (Score:3, Interesting)
But then again, my standard stress test for an AI program is to try to get it to discuss existential philosophy. That's probably a bit evil.
At any rate, while I think it's nifty that AI constantly hovers in the public mind, it's a bit premature (and misleading) to think that HAL-level conversational ability is anywhere close to being here.
Hardly what I'd call AI (Score:5, Interesting)
hell is the big deal about that? Anyone with enough time on their hands could create something simular.
What I would like to see is an AI program which can actually follow conversation and make responses
relevent to the topic of discussion, even if the statement didn't directly reference it.
Cool site! (Score:2, Interesting)
If he needs money... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, I bet this has already been done.
Re:Is there an Alice bot for IRC? (OT) (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Chat with her cousin Ally (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hardly what I'd call AI (Score:1, Interesting)
It's cute that Wallace has created a uber-adequate conversation mirror. But it's not AI in the philosophy or engineering of it -- its only AI in the artisticness of it.
Bi-Polar and common sense (Score:4, Interesting)
From my own perspective I would see Wallace's story somewhat differently. I see someone who missed out in childhood on the self confidence needed to make friends, cope with setbacks without taking it too seriouosly etc. His compulsion with Alice , and the obvious amount of time he must have spent in front of the computer in doing it, seems like a logical retreat from the real world, but still trying to gain the recognition he wanted at the same time. Anyone who doesn't get at least mildly depressed after spending 72 hour sessions in front of the computer is not human. I have an idea that he then made things worse by not taking care of himself (sleep, sport, seeing friends etc) and the use of dope. Very depressed people tend to lose their orientaion in both a physical as well as mental fashion and grass doesn't help here except to aleviate the anxiety felt by the person who obviously starts getting more and more frightened the more disorientated they are.
Left untreated (and I don't mean medication, just normal common sense taking care of oneself, speaking to friends etc) the depression eventually starts to take on other forms, one of which is Manic-Depression(or Bi-Polar syndrome), another is schizophrenia. It depends on the person. However, once the problems have gotten this far, it becomes very difficult or pratically impossible for the person to cope without fairly strong medication, and the last thing that they should be doing is exposing themsleves to the situation that creates their problem in the first place. Sadly, concentrating on the computer enables people like this to forget their suffering for a while at least, and often become obsessivley hooked to the screen.
Long walks, good sleep, decent food and one or two good friends would have done more for Richard Wallace, IMO, than anything else including ALICE.