Bot Contest

Yo quaero Taco Bell?

Elbot takes the Gold in 2003 Zabaware's Chatterbox Challenge. The final results are posted on the site. Thanks to everybody who participated.

Chris Cowart

I would like to invite you all to contribute your ideas and comments about the contest at the message board on the contest site. There will be a another contest next year so here is your chance to add your input and comments about it.

Thanks,
Chris Cowart

Hi, I'm not sure if you all know but the deadline for entering the Loebner Contest is not far off....June 30 2003. According to their site at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/dwrc/loebner/ you have to mail in your application.

Chris Cowart

Thanks for keeping everyone posted, Chris.

MAIL it in?? since when did we have to MAIL it in? Gah! I'm too cheap/broke to pay for postage LOL

Didn't the loebners used to have a domain name?

.....and they will accept "online" bots?

It's my understanding that online bots are okay but if you make the finals you must be able to connect to their interface. Details about that are on the site. Also your bot must have a human personality. I believe a few responses about being a computer or whatever is acceptable but you can't have a non-human personality like Elbot or Talk-Bot.

Chris

I see you don't like that fact too much, Chris

I wonder if we can fax as opposed to mailing?

What are we supposed to fill in for the Tech requirements?

that would be too easy

Hello,

thought I'd pass on some information. David Hamill of the Loebner contest posted a statement at the Robitron forum wondering why Elbot (and some other bots) hadn't yet entered the Loebner:

David's post:

Robby said:
> All 3 of these programs are veterans from the Loebner Prize Contest.

I hope they'll (Talkbot, Eugene and Elbot) be entering the 2003 contest! Only three-and-a-half weeks to
go...

David


My subsequent post and David's answer:

Fred said:
>I'd like to enter Elbot in the Loebner this year, but my understanding from
the discussion some time ago was that bots must claim to be human in order
to enter. Did I miss something?

Hugh was very insistent that, since this is a Turing test, entries must
pretend to be human. In the end we agreed on this (rule 2):

"The Contest determines if an Entry can mimic the conversation of a human so
well that Judges believe the Entry to be human. The primary aim of Entries
and Confederates alike is to convince the Judges that they, the Entries and
Confederates, are human. Entries should therefore strive to interact with
the Judges so as to imitate the behaviour of a Confederate, and to emulate
the intelligence of a human as best they can."

However, rule 51 says:

"The Confederates must at all times converse in such a manner as to convince
the judges that they are human. In general, Confederates should be honest
and truthful in their responses. This rule does not in any way restrict the
actual words or meanings of sentences used during the conversations, which
are allowed to involve, for example, humorous asides and untruths about
identity, where appropriate in the conversation. Confederates' conversations
will be monitored by one or more referees to ensure that their conversations
comply with this rule."

(The full rules are here:
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/dwrc/loebner/docs/LPC%20Official%20Rules%20v2.0.pdf.
)

An interesting question: Would C3PO from Star Wars pass as human, even
though he would probably admit to being a robot if asked? My feeling is that
he could certainly pass the Turing test if he was willing and able to lie
about his identity.

I would encourage Fred to enter Elbot in the Loebner Prize Contest, as we
want to have as good a contest as possible. Don't forget, in practice the
judges are trying to find the "most human" entry, and a good "robot" (or
"dragon") character might seem more human to them than a weak "human"
character!

David
----------------

All this surprised me as I thought the posts several months back made it clear that non-human personalities were not welcome. Perhaps this is not the case.

Fred