A.I. - When will computers be able to hold conversations?

[Cinematography]

Have any of you met A.L.I.C.E. (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity)? I found this bot the other day, and I was really impressed with how well she was able to communicate with me. Artificial Intelligence has come a long way over the last few years. I don't think we're that far from having computers with the ability to talk to us. What do you think?

[Demondo]

I've seen similar things over AIM, it can hold a conversation for a while, over specific key words, but eventually it breaks down.

[the_Jester]

yeah they are on the cusp right now Nova or Scientific American did an expose' on this not too long agon

10 years tops

[RedZep]

She's a smart ass too. I asked how long it took her programmer to code her. She said "More than three hours"

Shes doin ok, been at it for about 45 minutes, shes still rocking. Lets see how long it takes to get her.

RedZep

[stu_hacking]

I broke ALICE very quickly, as did Jozvex - the technology behind her is very interesting - basically she is programmed in Java but the AI part is in the form of a Markup type structure (AIML, looks interesting, worth a read)

the problem is that she doesn't remember things that you don't specifically tell her, so she tends to change the topic a lot

So, To answer the poll I would say that to an extent AI can already hold a conversation, and I don't think it will be too long before a computer will be able to hold a more intelligent conversation.

that's a lot different from "When will computer be able to make rational decisions, form opinions or have emotions."
That's all merely simulation, computers are electronic

[BentSea]

she cant thread statements... if she makes a statement and not a question, like "ugh" and you respond, "Ugh?" she doesnt know what you mean, and further, if you ask what she means, she's already forgotten. Took me less than 6 statements to break her.

But you can hold a conversation with her. A decent one even, and she's full of statistical information, if you could plug her into google, wow. So I dont know what you mean. If you can hold a convo with her, then how is your question valid?

[craigw1701]

You just have to copy/paste there answer and it breaks, as a real person would say "stop it" or something like that.

[sjojo]

I voted more than 21 years, but never is what I believe

[sjojo]

Originally posted by stu_hacking
I broke ALICE very quickly, as did Jozvex - the technology behind her is very interesting - basically she is programmed in Java but the AI part is in the form of a Markup type structure (AIML, looks interesting, worth a read)

the problem is that she doesn't remember things that you don't specifically tell her, so she tends to change the topic a lot

So, To answer the poll I would say that to an extent AI can already hold a conversation, and I don't think it will be too long before a computer will be able to hold a more intelligent conversation.

that's a lot different from "When will computer be able to make rational decisions, form opinions or have emotions."
That's all merely simulation, computers are electronic

conversation? Ask her what the meaning of life is and all you will get is what the person who programed her thinks the answer shoud be.

[mastermesh]

yes... alice is A LONG way from perfect... and I too believe that we'll never see ai in the way that it's portrayed in the movie ai... it's just too freaky... it gets to that weird place where computers are like humans but not human enough to really be humans... so it freaks people out.