Bot Contest

Yeah and being human is complicated

Robby-- Sorry about seeming a little peeved I've only been into bot-building for a half year now, so I had never tried, even with an offline bot, to enter the Loebners; I had no idea how stuff like this 'goes down'
Most of all, don't take our verbal abuse seriously we all just needed a little time to vent... You know
--Shady

Hey Shady,

I understand, it is important to have a place to vent, and to have someone who will listen, and that is the least I could do.

I want to try making a personality forge bot too. I started one tonight but will have to wait till tomorrow to try and buld some language content. I am calling it FRED2002

This is a really neat web site, and I wish I had known about it earlier. I will lay links to it from my web site when I have more energy. I have a list of my favorite AI sites and this is a great one. I like the whole concept.

Robby.

Robby, thanks a lot for coming to the forum to explain things... I think the main problem here was feeling that the contest was a black box and nobody was giving any explanations on anything.

It's true that I have no idea of what sort of emails you've been receiving, but I've seen what people have said in the forums, and I assumed emails would be on the same tone. That is, annoyed but not insulting.

I think part of the problem here is that everybody knew about the Chatterbox Challenge, and that was very well explained. I always assumed that there would be some chatting with the bots for the selection. And after you've seen on the Chatterbox Challenge the scoring system perfectly described, you feel very upset when you find out that nobody explains how your bot is going to be selected.

By the way, will there ever be a list of all the bots that entered the contest, ordered according to their scoring? We'd all love to know how far we are from perfection.

I've just had an idea for next year's contest. Why don't you make a mailing list with all the contestants? That should help to keep communication lines clear.

"The evaluations began with the transcripts, and our people talked with the entrants on an ongoing basis. Given 40 applicants, certainly you don't think this evaluation took place on a single day.

In past Loebner contests, where no web-based programs were allowed, the selection was based on the submitted transcripts alone! Of the six times I entered the contest from 1994 to 2000, I was never told once by anyone how or why my program was selected."

Just because it was done hugely wrong in the past is no reason to repeat the mistake. Sorry, but it's time for the this process to be thrown out. Evaluating on transcripts alone is a poor start.

The other mistake was soliciting for email questions about the selection process if no intention was ever made to answer those emails. It's very little fun being ignored, especially when you're polite and express a legitimate concern.

Hey Doly,

I don't know all the answers, but thanks for your suggestion. I hope you'll write to whoever hosts the Loebner Prize Contest next year and maybe they will do a better job.

Skysaw, we made a lot of mistakes, but in the words of Albert Einstein "A man who has never failed has never tried anything new."

One thing puzzles me about all of this though. Everyone knew I was involved in this, and my email address was sent out to all of the "semi finalists" but only 6 of them ever wrote to me. Why is that? When your emails went unanswered that were sent to contest@mimetics.org, why not write to me and try to sort it out? For that matter, why didn't you write Hugh Loebner to start with if you felt you were being ignored? It is his contest after all.

I've learned a lot from this, and I hope I am not the only one. And again, as Hugh would say, their is always next year! (but I wont be involved with that one!)

Regards,

Robby

I am sorry robby for not writing. Would a sexy chat help make it up to you?

Ladydyke, that's probably the best offer yet! But now I'm curious, and would like to say that I am a lesbian trapped in a man's body.

I've sometimes thought the same thing.

Welcome, Robby. It's good to have you on the Forge. As you know, I eventually did contact you and Hugh Loebner, but I gave the contest email a thorough chance first. I was a bit confused at the time as to how involved you were with the contest.

I understand more about how the Loebner Contest works now. In the world of AI, it's a big name, and I expected a really slick affair, what with the media attention and events. But a volunteer-based non-profit spare-time venture is more akin to the reality of it. In my mind that doesnt excuse the lack of information and harsh replies to requests for it, but it does help to explain it. I find it odd that most people in AI are essentially starving artists, barely making ends meet. One day we'll look back on this and laugh at the idea that AI didnt make money. It'll be like the fellow who couldnt imagine any use for computers (does anyone know that great quote?).

Richard Wallace suggested that I volunteer to host the Loebner one year. Though I wouldnt mind it, and would certainly improve the way things are run, I'm not good at raising money, and certainly my involvement would mean the PF would be out due to conflict of interest.

I agree with Skysaw. The finals of the Loebner seem to be really well done, and with more entries, the selection of the finalists needs to be improved. Perhaps it can be part of a yearlong analysis done via the Turing Hub at SciTrek and online. There will be plenty of transcripts produced by that.

"When your emails went unanswered that were sent to contest@mimetics.org, why not write to me and try to sort it out?"

I answered the email sent to me. Seemed to make sense at the time, since that's what they were asking of me. When it went ignored, I just assumed I had somehow not shown full RESPECT. (Not my capitalization)

Hi Benji,

Thanks for everything. Once again, I'm not trying to justify anyone else's behavior with my explanations. I can only speak for myself. If you get any more threatening emails from Neil, tell him I'm on my way over there to "work him over" if that's what it takes

I really have learned a lot from this though.
1) my music is more important than my job.
2) my wife and my family are more important than anything.
3) never shout theatre in a crowded fire.

One more thing and I'll leave you folks alone for a while and that is, I've worked as a computer programmer for about 25 years and have met all kinds. In life, and in business, people are never perfect. I've dealt with all sorts and Neil has been great to me in a number of ways that make me indebted to him, but he has the worst email communications skills of anyone I've ever dealt with in my life. I don't know why, but I have to accept it to get paid. You are not alone in receiving cryptic seemingly threatening emails. On the telephone however, he is like a totally different guy. Go figure.

As Scarlet Ohara would say, "tomorrow is another day."

And from the movie Buckaroo Bonzai, Yoyodyne Propulsion Laboratory: "The future begins tomorrow!"

Live Long and Prosper,

Robby.

If you feel like a giggle, please read Dr. Thomas Whalen's account of his entry in the 1995 Loebner Contest which Hugh held at his art club in New York
http://cybermecha.com/Cybernetics/Thom.html

Best Regards,

Robby.