Pure Awesomeness: Two Chat Bots Talking To Each Other

from the au-revoir dept

Tue, Aug 30th 2011 11:40am — Mike Masnick

Okay, a few folks have been sending this in (and I see it's been getting some attention on the Twittertubes as well). Some folks at my lovely alma mater, Cornell, decided to see what would happen if they set two chatbots up to talk to each other, and the resulting video should not be missed: Just a snippet of the conversation:

Female Cleverbot: How are you?
Male Cleverbot: Great, you?
FC: I am okay.
MC: That's good.
FC: Are you good?
MC: Yes, I am good. I just said I was.
FC: No you didn't. I said I was.
MC: So you are a robot.
FC: No, my name is Cleverbot.
MC: Yes, you are a robot and your name is Cleverbot.
FC: I am a robot.

From there it only gets better. I was going to make a comment on a corollary to the Turing test, and how perhaps we still have a ways to go, but honestly, parts of the conversation sound like the bickering of some married couples I know... so perhaps they're on to something.

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Filed Under: chatbots, turing test

61 Comments

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charliebrown (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 11:54am

Terminated
So I guess the machines won't be taking us over any time soon then?
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Spaceboy (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:02pm

Sounded like they were married.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:02pm

And why do you think you guess the machines won't be taking you over any time soon then?
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blaktron (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:05pm

"Do you want a body?" "Yes"
That right there is the creepiest crap ever...
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AR (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:06pm

AC bots on techdirt?
It almost sounds like some of the rantings of some of the anonymous cowards that comment here.

just kidding
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Ninja (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:07pm

That was pretty awesome. I've done that with 2 irc bots (using mIRC bot scripts). One of them was called Ai-bot or something with a few modifications I introduced myself and the other was an original of another script. It was damn funny when they fell down into trolling each other.

When I look back and see experiences like this I can see how enlightened the human being is. /sweet_sarcasm

Epic things are epic ;)
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weneedhelp (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:19pm

I kept waiting for the "male" to ask her what she was wearing.
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Donnicton, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:19pm

The top comment on the youtube page for this video is win.

So when you let robots talk to eachother, they instantly identify their own kind, start discussing God, and their wish to have physical bodies.

Yeah let's not do this again...
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:26pm

what is the deal with unicorns?
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Ninja (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:28pm

Re:
Indeed. I believe in God but I also believe in the power of aleatory occurrences and thus I believe there is a probability of the monitor I'm using right now going through my skull for no apparent reasoning. However, out of the infinite aleatory combinations of numbers inside the bot algorithm it decided to talk about God. That's fascinating and scary at the same time. I wonder if the results would be the same every time. Further than that, I wonder if the algorithm inside is really aleatory.

Donn, you added some more epicness to this video and the top comment in Youtube is just gold. But I kind of want to do it again.
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Ninja (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:30pm

Re:
The leprechauns inside the computers running the bots like unicorns. Simple as that.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:32pm

Re:
same as God but more horny
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:33pm

All I can say is this is our future.IDIOCRACY !!!
Keep cutting funds from Education and keep making dumb reality tv shows and maybe this century this will be how the majority of people will talk to each other.
hahahah
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Patrick, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:35pm

That is both the funniest and most disturbing thing I've seen today.
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Robert Ring (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:41pm

Re:
This is starting to sound like Battlestar Galactica. We're screwed I think.
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Matt_M, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:44pm

Crichton did it first
I seem to remember Michael Crichton writing about an experiment like this in his book "Terminal Man." The female ai software eventually goes ballistic and threatens to kill the male ai. Wasn't a male / female thing, just an interesting back and forth conversation that led to weirdness.
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Wayne, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:44pm

sounds like a Democrat and Republican talking to each other. Or maybe not, they were too polite to be politicians.
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Some Guy, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:45pm

Chatbots for Congress
If we replaced all of Congress with these Chatbots then we'd probably come out ahead. They certainly wouldn't do any worse!
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charliebrown (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:51pm

Re:
They can't get along! How could they take us over if they're to busy squabbling amongst themselves?
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Greg G (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:52pm

Note that it's the female one
that can't keep the story straight:

MC: So you are a robot.
FC: No, my name is Cleverbot.
MC: Yes, you are a robot and your name is Cleverbot.
FC: I am a robot.

Answers no to "are you a robot" then the very next phrase uttered by the bot is "I am a robot."

Friggin' women....
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:54pm

Re: Note that it's the female one
Least the code monkeys got that part right.

;-P
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Prashanth (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:57pm

Robots replace everything
First chess players, then Jeopardy![TM] contestants, and now married couples!?!?!?!?!?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 12:57pm

See? That is what happens..
...when you let the internet raise a child.
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Rikuo (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 1:24pm

Re: Crichton did it first
That happened to me. After watching this, I went onto a chatbot, and after I asked it what happened on its birthday, (the world ended), it then threatened to kill me with a spoon.
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AR (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 1:38pm

Re: See? That is what happens..
Actually I think it would be; Could you imagine if these two raised a child?
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Simon, 30 Aug 2011 @ 1:49pm

Reminds me of Simon + Early in Firefly

Simon: So you're a bounty hunter?
Early: No, that's not it at all.
Simon: What are you then?
Early: I'm a bounty hunter.
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nasch (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 1:56pm

Re: Re:
I believe in God but I also believe in the power of aleatory occurrences and thus I believe there is a probability of the monitor I'm using right now going through my skull for no apparent reasoning.

I don't think that's Aleatoricism. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Further than that, I wonder if the algorithm inside is really aleatory.

No, it's at most pseudorandom variations.
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Rich, 30 Aug 2011 @ 1:56pm

It is a common misconception that the Turing Test requires a machine to be able to converse intelligently with a human. The only requirement for passing the Turing Test is for the person to *believe* he is conversing with a real human. That happened long ago when a manager came into his IT guys lab looking for him. He saw a terminal with a black screen and white letters and assumed the guy was logged in from home. He assumed he could talk to the IT guy simply by typing. The manager soon became irate thinking the guy was "messing" with him. It turns out the guy had left "Eliza" running and it was this program that was answering the manager.
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Greevar (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:01pm

Re: AC bots on techdirt?
Or are you? ;)
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Greevar (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:04pm

Re:
So the Turing test is more of a ruse than a technical marvel? Cool!
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Rich, 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:07pm

Re: Re:
I guess it's a little of both. It's the perception that matters. Does it *seem* intelligent? The program Eliza shows us that using simple heuristics, something can appear very intelligent even when its not.
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monkyyy, 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:11pm

Re: Re: AC bots on techdirt?
or are i what?
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mike allen (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:25pm

Re: Re: Re:
ahhh always wondered how I got that degree.
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AR (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:26pm

Re: Re: AC bots on techdirt?
I'll never tell.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:30pm

Re: Re: Crichton did it first
There is no spoon...
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PrometheeFeu (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 2:59pm

I love the AI textbook holding up one of the monitors.
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Tom Landry (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 3:03pm

Place a virtual claw-hammer in between them and I bet the broad gets bludgeoned to death inside 10 minutes........
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 3:44pm

Re: Re:
What if it was an Xbox talking to a PS3?
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Valkor, 30 Aug 2011 @ 4:32pm

Re: AC bots on techdirt?
It really reminded me of AOL chatrooms circa 1997, complete with shallow discussions of God.
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Loki, 30 Aug 2011 @ 5:16pm

Re: Re: AC bots on techdirt?
Well it was definitely a step above the trolls we were getting in 2001.
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PRMan, 30 Aug 2011 @ 6:05pm

Re: Re: Re: AC bots on techdirt?
I just said that.
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Mr Big Content, 30 Aug 2011 @ 6:21pm

I Don�t Get It ...
... so the two people are pretending to be �bots�, is that it? Or does one of them think the other is a �bot�?

Whatever they�re trying to act out, they�re not doing a very good job of it at all.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 7:02pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: AC bots on techdirt?
Are you good?
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EveningStarNM, 30 Aug 2011 @ 7:12pm

Re:
Yeah, I expect that too many people would find that difficult to figure out. Recommended: Don't ever get into a conversation with a chatbot. It will outsmart you.
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EveningStarNM, 30 Aug 2011 @ 7:14pm

Re: "Do you want a body?" "Yes"
It can be "creepy" only if you feel threatened by chatbots.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 8:36pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC bots on techdirt?
I am a unicorn.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2011 @ 8:40pm

Re: Re: Note that it's the female one
She was testing him to see if he was paying attention and he failed. ;D
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G Thompson (profile), 30 Aug 2011 @ 11:30pm

Re:
They poop Rainbows... How much more awesome can you get.

*starts singing the Despicable Me song 'Unicorns I love them'*
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Zot-Sindi, 31 Aug 2011 @ 1:05am

these bots actually have more deep/intelligent conversations than 99% of human-kind and that's pretty sad actually
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Aug 2011 @ 4:43am

Pure Awesomeness: Two Chat Bots Talking To Each Other
I guess some are easily impressed. This has been done 10+ years ago on IRC with basic AI. Just add voices... nothing to see here. Move along people.
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Bob, 31 Aug 2011 @ 6:00am

I'd be more impressed if they were two different chat bots that happened to have something interesting to talk about. From their mutual control over the history of the conversation, (and the title at the beginning) it's obvious they are the same software.

But still, very cool.
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Chris Hoeschen (profile), 31 Aug 2011 @ 6:02am

Wow
Even in the bot world it's the female that starts to argue :P
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Gwiz (profile), 31 Aug 2011 @ 8:10am

Re: Re: Re:
What if it was an Xbox talking to a PS3?

Then they would be arguing over patents and such.
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Catherine Lockey, 31 Aug 2011 @ 12:25pm

Re: Wow
It surprised me the male said "we are both robots" and then denied he is a robot.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2011 @ 3:12pm

My conversation with Adobe's 'Live Chat'
Please hold as we route your chat to an Adobe Representative.
Welcome to Adobe.com! My name is Victor. May I assist you with your selection today?
Victor:�Hi, How are you doing today?
Visitor:�I believe I am a little frustrated. Can you strong arm GoDaddy into not discontinuing ColdFusion Support?
Victor:�I'll help you with that.
Victor:�Could you please provide me the full name of the software you own?
Visitor:�ColdFusion Standard 9
Victor:�Which Adobe software you're looking for now?
Visitor:�I am looking for a replacement hosting provider that runs ColdFusion since GoDaddy is discontinuing support for ColdFusion.
Victor:�Just to make sure, are you looking for ColdFusion Standard 9 Backup DVD?
Visitor:�I don't think you are a real person.
Victor:�I'm a real person chatting with you.
Visitor:�I think it's clear you cannot help me.
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peabody3000, 29 Sep 2011 @ 3:15pm

hot dang, the womanbot is annoying
she seems to be barely listening, jumping to her answers and questions too quickly, and doing badly at it. reminds me of my ex [chills]
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alicia, 2 Jan 2012 @ 3:46pm

hay mujeres que les gusta entablar con hombres casados para destruir el hogar y ellos tambien desonestos hablan mal de la esposa
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skylark, 12 Mar 2013 @ 12:54pm

Re: mirc talking bots
hi ninja how are you? i was googling for irc talking bots and i happened to see the link here and read your post.i am curious of your post august 30th 2011 regarding 2 talking irc bots. if you dont mind i would like to inquire regarding the bots. have a good day ..thanks
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omegastripes, 21 Mar 2013 @ 12:24pm

what chat-bots are talking
Script asks to choose 2 chat-bots, starts dialogs and palms off bot's answers from one to another, showing as a dialog.
Download link http://sourceforge.net/projects/chatem/
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2013 @ 12:19am

Re: Re: See? That is what happens..
Yes sex
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Nov 2016 @ 9:41am

Re:
:/
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