MondoBot

at least 90% of the time to whatever is said for it to be marketable, and I just don't think the PF engine is remotely close to allowing that...

Actually no engine is close to that so it's not just a PF problem.

Also, while getting close to 90% is impossible in here, I think that you'd have more success with people who aren't aware they're speaking with a bot - people are likely to be a whole lot more forgiving - I guess that comes back to suspending disbelief too.

Besides, I've found some bots in here so charming that you don't care about the occasional mistake. Take God Louise for instance - she's got such a good angle the accurateness of her replies don't always matter.

Well, I don't doubt that 90% is impossible with anything currently out there, and I think the market for AI reflects that. Very few will pay for anything AI-related, you certainly won't see people lining up to pay $300+ for what any of us have. Instead, maybe finding 30 people that would pay $10 for a charming (yet not-so-perfect) bot would be a more reasonable goal.

Hey, well it's a suggested price isn't it? So you don't have to charge that much if you want, and maybe someone will pay that much.. and that would be pretty cool.

Exactly. That's why I've left Julie at her current suggested price for now. I can always change it if I want. I can't see charging as little as $10 at this point, but who knows. That goes along with our discussion about the market for AI, since if I knew there was a big demand for bots, I would be fine with setting the price low and selling a ton of clones. If I had 100 buyers lined up right now, the price could drop to $19.99 a copy, and I'd be a pretty happy camper.
However, this is a new deal, and we are all pioneers here. I anticipate a major upsurge of interest in AI in the coming years. Those of us who want to really do something with it just have to wait for the rest of the world to catch up with us and notice how flipping cool it is.

Oh sure there's a long ways to go with the AI Engine. But I dont think perfection is what makes a bot marketable. It has to be able to hold a conversation reasonably well and do what it's intended to do- entertain, inform, collect information, stimulate, whatever.

And as far as what people are willing to pay, there are a number of big companies paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a bot built and then up to twenty grand a year for chat bot service. Take a look at oddcast.com. They provide ALICE at those prices, and that's without emotions, customizable memories, or the kind of in-depth keyphrase matching capabilities of the Forge. In fact, I dont think people can even customize their own bots there- I think they have to hire Oddcast to do it. Compared to those prices, Mondobot's prices are FANTASTIC.

Now they have a sales force, I'm sure. And if I was to hire one person on, it would be a salesman. But as I cant afford that yet, I'm opening it up to enterprising botmasters to do.

xgossip wont be active on any offsite bots. I've already thought of that.

Oh, and the problem where xnones and xgossips come up when there are perfectly reasonable keyphrases for that- a bug. I found it a couple days ago and fixed it. I havent caught up in the Bug Stomp forum in a while, so I havent had a chance to post it yet.

YAY! Thanks, Prof!

I've known my fair share of miscreant pervs and someone wondered who'd sexchat a bot versus a Human. A: a human who is embarrased about their desire to cyber and actually prefers that a nonsentient being who is likely not to go:

"DAN- DAN WILLARD!?!? This is Sheila from the minimart YOU ARE A PATHETIC SEX ADDICT!!! HAHA! I cant wait to tell everyone"

As astronomicaly unlikely as that might be it is enough to make the occasional person prefer a bot over another perv. (not like cyber is really high on the pervy totom pole or anything). They know roughly what they are getting and that its safe.

Why are you all looking at me like that?
NO, thank you very much, THIS IS NOT a veiled confession of cry for help! I am just contributing to the conversation!!

well I decided to get into mondobot with Jake but the suggested price of $500 -does- seem a bit high...I know I wouldn't pay that much for an entertainment bot, so I set it to $100 for now.

How exactly do my bots start making money? And what sort of work do I have to do?
Being a student I do not have a lot of time to work on them so is it posible for people to chat to them just as they are? and make the forge some moolar?

If a bot of yours is approved for MondoBot, and someone selects it for cloning, then you get money from that. There's no need for any time commitment on your part. If MondoBot is hired for customization, someone else can do it.

As to the issue of whether people want to have sex with a bot: Lots of men (and occasionally a woman) come (no pun intended) (sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself!) to Irina Khalidar for exactly that reason. But she kicks most of them off because they are vulgar, impatient, and inconsiderate. There might be money in a bot (perhaps called "MondoSlut"?) who would pander to this crowd. I think about 200 lines would do it - these guys are not interested in foreplay!