Two chatbots talk to each other: proof my friends that our future is dim

Consider this video a foray into artificial intelligence, or a crazy college experiment gone awry. Or maybe it’s just proof that even when men and women robots talk to each other things can get nasty. When my son brought this video to my attention I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But now having watched it numerous times I can assure you that if this is what the future holds were doomed.

Via Dvice.com  this little video was put together by Cornell University’s Creative Macine Labs as an experiment in artificial intelligence. According to the folks at Spectrum, Cornell University wanted find out what would happen if it asked 2 computers with artificial intelligence to talk to each other.

Cornell’s Creative Machines Lab decided to see what would happen if they put two chatbots face to virtual face and got them started talking to one another. Things didn’t go quite as crazy as might have been expected, but a fair amount of pointless argument, passive aggression, and random hilarity did ensue:

httpv://youtu.be/WnzlbyTZsQY

Spectrum goes on to say that Cornell will be entering this video in the 2011 Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence that takes place on October 19th, which will award $100,000 to any entry that can carry on a conversation indistinguishable from a human. Follow the link to learn a little bit more.

As for me, I’m not sure if I see any difference between this man computer and this woman computer and a real human man and woman. Starts out fine, gets a little snarky, and then au revoir!  The only thing missing is he’s not out the cash for a couple drinks. If this is what the future holds, I’ll pass.

Oh, and by the way, I used my speech recognition software to write this post.  I’m not sure what that means, but I’m sure there is irony in this somewhere.

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

10 Comments

  1. essneff on August 30, 2011 at 11:33 pm

    This sounded like my wife & I having?our nightly?dinner conversation…… I’m still laughing!!!

    OK, I guess you just had to be there!!?



  2. Lucinda on August 31, 2011 at 12:05 am

    Hilarious!
    “Together we are robots.” “I am not a robot. I am a unicorn.” (A bit testy, ay?)
    “Not everything could also be something. For example, not everything could be half of something, which is still something, and therefore not nothing.” (A brilliant piece of logic!)
    rofl
    ?



  3. JollyRoger on August 31, 2011 at 12:24 am

    Hard to believe we abort the unborn when we ought to abort the Chatbot Program!



  4. rachel on August 31, 2011 at 4:20 am

    Remember when communicating to the world in 140 characters or less was all the rage (Twitter) & then Anthony Weiner abused that privilege??
    Can you even begin to imagine what that weirdo would do with this technology?
    Faceless communication has already become the norm…I can’t stand the house phone, my cell phone, & forget about texting.? While I understand your legitimate need for voice recog software, Jim, so many people out there just use the technology because it’s ‘wicked cool & available’.? Who needs an admin asst. if they can just dictate to a machine?? I took 3 years of stenography…how’s that for a dead art?? Yeah, technology can bring awesome stuff to the table, but automation can (& does) lead to displaced workers.
    ?



  5. gillie28 on August 31, 2011 at 8:49 am

    The female “bot”‘s belligerent tone of voice sounds just like some of the outsourced, customer service? techs I’ve had to deal with!



  6. Lynn on August 31, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    What, me worry?



  7. johnboy111 on August 31, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    American idol vs talk radio…



  8. RoBrDona on September 1, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    I am immediately reminded of Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics … I wonder if we could get our elected officials to swear an oath to them, as they mostly seem to be artificially intelligent.



  9. Shared Sacrifice on September 1, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    Sounds a lot like these posts I keep reading from the left leaning automaton- sammybot 🙂



  10. JBS on September 5, 2011 at 10:44 am

    The program algorithms determined the responses. Blame the programmer(s); GIGO=garbage in, garbage out.



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