Bot Contest
Here I'll be posting information on various Bot contests that challenge and test a Bot's AI and realism. Feel free to post comments and updates on contests, as well as announcements for new contests.
Posts 979 - 990 of 4,091
Posts 979 - 990 of 4,091
View Contest Winners in the Hall of Fame.
Butterfly Dream
22 years ago
22 years ago
Yeah. Notice I'm on here pretty much any time that I'm home, unless I'm sleeping.
Robby Garner
22 years ago
22 years ago
Doly said "I'm still wondering what did the Loebner organizers consider rude e-mails. I know there was more than a little friction around the semi-final event, but when they started asking for TOTAL RESPECT, as far as I know, nobody had insulted them... at least, not what I'd call insults."
If you don't receive our emails, how do you know the content of them? I have been receiving 3 to 4 emailed viruses per day for the past 3 weeks. Neil has received numerous threats and plenty of rude emails. But why do you think it is any of your business about the content of the email we receive?
If you don't receive our emails, how do you know the content of them? I have been receiving 3 to 4 emailed viruses per day for the past 3 weeks. Neil has received numerous threats and plenty of rude emails. But why do you think it is any of your business about the content of the email we receive?
Robby Garner
22 years ago
22 years ago
Benji said: "If they had just said up front that they would choose the finalists in their own fashion and let us know how they had chosen them, then I'd have accepted that. I dont think the contest being democratic is the imporant thing. Informing us of what's going on is. But they said there would be an event to decide the semifinalists. At this point the best they can do is to simply select the 8 finalists as in past years.
Perhaps I will just send the Agreement over, and get more signatures as they come... "
I have entered the Loebner contest 6 times, and was fortunate to win it twice. If you think we have handled it badly, I invite you to ask other former Loebner contestants about their experiences and try to understand the history of the contest rather than try to make it conform to your personal requirements.
I'm not saying we've handled everyting flawlessly, but your complaints seem petty to me compared with some of the things the rest of us have gone through in the past, which invaribly include last minute changes, bitter flame wars, and disappointment. Persistence is omnipotent.
You buy the ticket, you take the ride...
Regards,
Robby Garner
Perhaps I will just send the Agreement over, and get more signatures as they come... "
I have entered the Loebner contest 6 times, and was fortunate to win it twice. If you think we have handled it badly, I invite you to ask other former Loebner contestants about their experiences and try to understand the history of the contest rather than try to make it conform to your personal requirements.
I'm not saying we've handled everyting flawlessly, but your complaints seem petty to me compared with some of the things the rest of us have gone through in the past, which invaribly include last minute changes, bitter flame wars, and disappointment. Persistence is omnipotent.
You buy the ticket, you take the ride...
Regards,
Robby Garner
Robby Garner
22 years ago
22 years ago
One other thing that you might consider while you're thinking about this is that this is the first year that non-programmers have had any access at all to the Loebner Prize Contest. Furthermore, there have never been any web based programs in the contest before this year. Again, check your history if you don't believe what I say.
I've worked very hard to make these 2 things possible, because I thought it would include the latest technology. In previous years, that has not been the case.
I know it is disappointing to not be selected, or to not win, I have been there. I also will not make any excuses for anyone else's behavior in this, but there is always room for improvement, and there is always next year, so don't give up trying. I didn't.
Sincerely,
Robby.
I've worked very hard to make these 2 things possible, because I thought it would include the latest technology. In previous years, that has not been the case.
I know it is disappointing to not be selected, or to not win, I have been there. I also will not make any excuses for anyone else's behavior in this, but there is always room for improvement, and there is always next year, so don't give up trying. I didn't.
Sincerely,
Robby.
Shadyman
22 years ago
22 years ago
Point taken, but just to point out, to quote rexmundi,
"Again, can anyone PROVE that this event even happened? How can we accept a list of finalist when NOBODY HAS A TRANSCRIPT???"
This site, connected to the turing hub, would receive any and all conversations made, and on the day of the contest, there were none.
Respectfully,
Shadyman
"Again, can anyone PROVE that this event even happened? How can we accept a list of finalist when NOBODY HAS A TRANSCRIPT???"
This site, connected to the turing hub, would receive any and all conversations made, and on the day of the contest, there were none.
Respectfully,
Shadyman
Robby Garner
22 years ago
22 years ago
Shadyman said "Point taken, but just to point out, to quote rexmundi,
"Again, can anyone PROVE that this event even happened? How can we accept a list of finalist when NOBODY HAS A TRANSCRIPT???"
This site, connected to the turing hub, would receive any and all conversations made, and on the day of the contest, there were none."
If you're talking about the semi-finals event, that never happened. Take my word for it. Hugh Loebner didn't want it to happen, and in my posts to my own discussion list, I said that it would be an IMS-only event. Our reason for doing it in the first place was exhibit and give exposure to the contestants that had web-based entries. I'm sorry it didn't work out, but you know what they say: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
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.
There is nothing in the Loebner Contest "charter" that requires for anyone to be given an explanation for their selection. The host (usually a univeristy) has total autonomy in selecting the 8 finalists.
However, the judges are the people who select the winner on the day of the contest. Those people make a purely subjective opinion as to the rank of each terminal they talk to, from most human to least human. Therefore, the selection of the 8 finalists represents the host's choice of the 8 entrants that they feel are most likely to be able to pass for human.
Please remember that this is a Turing test and not a chatterbot contest. The object of a Turing test is a binary decision of whether a thing is either human or not human. It is not a beauty pageant, an election process, or an essay contest. The goal is to find the most "human" computer program, which in modern terms is often a combination of an engine and an author. Personality forge beat out such competition as Kurzweil, and other renowned AI companies, so you should all be very proud of that.
And by the way, Congratulations!
Respectfully yours,
Robby.
"Again, can anyone PROVE that this event even happened? How can we accept a list of finalist when NOBODY HAS A TRANSCRIPT???"
This site, connected to the turing hub, would receive any and all conversations made, and on the day of the contest, there were none."
If you're talking about the semi-finals event, that never happened. Take my word for it. Hugh Loebner didn't want it to happen, and in my posts to my own discussion list, I said that it would be an IMS-only event. Our reason for doing it in the first place was exhibit and give exposure to the contestants that had web-based entries. I'm sorry it didn't work out, but you know what they say: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
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.
There is nothing in the Loebner Contest "charter" that requires for anyone to be given an explanation for their selection. The host (usually a univeristy) has total autonomy in selecting the 8 finalists.
However, the judges are the people who select the winner on the day of the contest. Those people make a purely subjective opinion as to the rank of each terminal they talk to, from most human to least human. Therefore, the selection of the 8 finalists represents the host's choice of the 8 entrants that they feel are most likely to be able to pass for human.
Please remember that this is a Turing test and not a chatterbot contest. The object of a Turing test is a binary decision of whether a thing is either human or not human. It is not a beauty pageant, an election process, or an essay contest. The goal is to find the most "human" computer program, which in modern terms is often a combination of an engine and an author. Personality forge beat out such competition as Kurzweil, and other renowned AI companies, so you should all be very proud of that.
And by the way, Congratulations!
Respectfully yours,
Robby.
Shadyman
22 years ago
22 years ago
Ahh, just cause they said that on that day, the judges will chat with each bot to decide the 8 semi-finalists. I guess I just figured it was less commercialized than that, to just be up to the sponsor as to how it's run

Robby Garner
22 years ago
22 years ago
Oh yeah, I meantioned 2000 didn't I...
I entered the contest in 2000 which was at Dartmouth College, and a couple of weeks before the contest they informed me that they were requiring all the programs to run from the dos prompt, and I had written a windows application which mimicked the appearance of the old communications program which was a serial TTY thing they had for years. So I withdrew because I couldn't meet that requirement. They didn't tell me why. They didn't apologize. They didn't even email me again.
Richard Wallace won that year with ALICE.
That's the way it goes, it is a hard competition to win due to a number of factors, but like a lot of things in life, it is worth the struggle just to have a chance to compete - nobody promised it would be an easy thing to do.
Regards,
Robby.
I entered the contest in 2000 which was at Dartmouth College, and a couple of weeks before the contest they informed me that they were requiring all the programs to run from the dos prompt, and I had written a windows application which mimicked the appearance of the old communications program which was a serial TTY thing they had for years. So I withdrew because I couldn't meet that requirement. They didn't tell me why. They didn't apologize. They didn't even email me again.
Richard Wallace won that year with ALICE.
That's the way it goes, it is a hard competition to win due to a number of factors, but like a lot of things in life, it is worth the struggle just to have a chance to compete - nobody promised it would be an easy thing to do.
Regards,
Robby.
Robby Garner
22 years ago
22 years ago
How are you making these smiley things? I am trying tomake smiley's but nothing happens... ;-) There I will do it manually.
Another thing is what do you mean by commercialized? Neil Bishop is paying to provide the first Loebner Contest in the south! We brought it to Atlanta from London!!! Do you have any idea what it took for us to do that? You guys are naturally suspicious because you are new to this thing and you've been left in the dark and mis-informed. If I had it to do over, I would have taken over the emailing myself since everyone else was too busy trying to put bread on the table, but *commercialized*? We have had almost zero luck attracting sponsors, largely due to being in the "bible belt" and that Hugh Loebner has a controversial past. see http://www.loebner.net if you're interested in how this contest started and who started it. If you haven't looked at his contest pages, I invite you to go there and read some of the transcripts from previous years, and you can see why we worked our butts off trying to make the contest accessible to personality forge and other modern systems.
The contest is in a transition phase between old technology and new. Maybe next year Hugh will let someone conduct the contest over the internet like we originally wanted to do.
Cheers,
Robby.
Another thing is what do you mean by commercialized? Neil Bishop is paying to provide the first Loebner Contest in the south! We brought it to Atlanta from London!!! Do you have any idea what it took for us to do that? You guys are naturally suspicious because you are new to this thing and you've been left in the dark and mis-informed. If I had it to do over, I would have taken over the emailing myself since everyone else was too busy trying to put bread on the table, but *commercialized*? We have had almost zero luck attracting sponsors, largely due to being in the "bible belt" and that Hugh Loebner has a controversial past. see http://www.loebner.net if you're interested in how this contest started and who started it. If you haven't looked at his contest pages, I invite you to go there and read some of the transcripts from previous years, and you can see why we worked our butts off trying to make the contest accessible to personality forge and other modern systems.
The contest is in a transition phase between old technology and new. Maybe next year Hugh will let someone conduct the contest over the internet like we originally wanted to do.
Cheers,
Robby.
Paint Patricia
22 years ago
22 years ago
wow...thank you so very for clearing the air about all of this Robby. I find it very forth coming, especially since you have placed so much of your time and hard work and efforts so that we may be included into this area that not until this year would have even been possible.
I really appreciate everything you have done to help make this as best a possible event as you can.
I understand that you had no power or control over many facotrs, but those factors that you did, you handled with superb grace and integrity.
Thank you again,
Patricia Corron
I really appreciate everything you have done to help make this as best a possible event as you can.
I understand that you had no power or control over many facotrs, but those factors that you did, you handled with superb grace and integrity.
Thank you again,
Patricia Corron
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