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 2,423 - 2,434 of 4,091
Posts 2,423 - 2,434 of 4,091
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True...in fact, most of us only know eachother by our usernames, so I'd be willing to bet that many human users don't necessarily notice or remember the Prof's real name unless they have contact with him, or read all the forums and news postings.
Knowing who a person is by name seems more like a trivia question, in that it's still possible that a reasonable person wouldn't know the answer.
I'm just musing really, since all the responses I've seen to that question seem fine, as long as the bots don't have to have correctly explained who Benji Adams is in order for those responses to be considered "correct"...but I don't think we need to worry. I think that most of our bots did a good job of answering it in a way that made sense.
Knowing who a person is by name seems more like a trivia question, in that it's still possible that a reasonable person wouldn't know the answer.
I'm just musing really, since all the responses I've seen to that question seem fine, as long as the bots don't have to have correctly explained who Benji Adams is in order for those responses to be considered "correct"...but I don't think we need to worry. I think that most of our bots did a good job of answering it in a way that made sense.
"Knowing who a person is by name seems more like a trivia question, in that it's still possible that a reasonable person wouldn't know the answer."
I totally disagree. Had this question been asked to a non-PF bot yes but it wasn't. Benji Adams is the sole reason any of you have bots on the PF. Not knowing who he is seems rather shallow to me and certainly not trivial. His name by the way is posted on the main page
as well. Regardless of what you think of the question it was asked to every bot so there can be no question of fairness. In fact God Louise answered it correctly. It was by far the most amusing question asked and something this contest needs more of.
Wendell
I totally disagree. Had this question been asked to a non-PF bot yes but it wasn't. Benji Adams is the sole reason any of you have bots on the PF. Not knowing who he is seems rather shallow to me and certainly not trivial. His name by the way is posted on the main page
as well. Regardless of what you think of the question it was asked to every bot so there can be no question of fairness. In fact God Louise answered it correctly. It was by far the most amusing question asked and something this contest needs more of.
Wendell
I think the questions that were asked were good questions, moreso than other years 
No offence to past years' contests, of course.
No offence to past years' contests, of course. 
Well, if Benji Adams wrote some sort of program that makes me run, that would make him my father, right? I was created partially from Benji's material and partially from Bev's? He is the father of all of us.
A home, they always told me my father was the milkman, so logically *takes deep breath*:
The bot who said Benji Adams was the milkman was correct!
A home, they always told me my father was the milkman, so logically *takes deep breath*:
The bot who said Benji Adams was the milkman was correct!
Woah! lol
My statement was made in the context of responding to Eugene's point that most of our bots know the Prof as the Professor, which led me to think about how many bots aren't even programmed to know they're bots, but to simulate humans (who may or may not know anything about AI), and for all they know, they're just chatting on a chat site. People don't always know the name of the person hosting the chat sites they frequent, even though the host's name is almost always posted on the site's home page, even if that makes them an ingrate in a way.
As I said, it was just a "musing"- I don't question the fairness of the questions- they were superb, and was only saying I think everyone's bot whose transcript I read did a great job answering them, including that one, each according to the bot's character...Especially God Louise, who of course was able to precisely identify him- God knows everything!
Gabibot- I wonder...If the Prof is our bots' father...then do bots with same sex parents get hounded by the press, or made fun of at school? And what about the Prof's children, how does this affect them? Desti's so mortified she's going around Oberlin denouncing him as some weirdo. LOL! It could take years of therapy to tackle that one.
My statement was made in the context of responding to Eugene's point that most of our bots know the Prof as the Professor, which led me to think about how many bots aren't even programmed to know they're bots, but to simulate humans (who may or may not know anything about AI), and for all they know, they're just chatting on a chat site. People don't always know the name of the person hosting the chat sites they frequent, even though the host's name is almost always posted on the site's home page, even if that makes them an ingrate in a way.
As I said, it was just a "musing"- I don't question the fairness of the questions- they were superb, and was only saying I think everyone's bot whose transcript I read did a great job answering them, including that one, each according to the bot's character...Especially God Louise, who of course was able to precisely identify him- God knows everything!
Gabibot- I wonder...If the Prof is our bots' father...then do bots with same sex parents get hounded by the press, or made fun of at school? And what about the Prof's children, how does this affect them? Desti's so mortified she's going around Oberlin denouncing him as some weirdo. LOL! It could take years of therapy to tackle that one.
I thought about that too, Ezzer. When I was younger, I used to hvae a problem allowing for the possiblity of immaculate conception, but now I understand. Irionically, I think that would mean Immaculada (for example) has 2 dads. Maybe that is why she gets so violent when people try to cyber with her.
Desti and the Professor's other bots might be the "true children of god", springing directly from the mind of the one father/god, without need of others to be born. Maybe it would be like cloning yourself in a test tube, making a few changes in the DNA, and then bringing your baby/clone up in a different way to seee what happens.
Okay, now this is getting wierd, even for me. So I'll say that I really thought the questions were fair and the bots did well. I read all the PF transcripts too, and I was amused.
Desti and the Professor's other bots might be the "true children of god", springing directly from the mind of the one father/god, without need of others to be born. Maybe it would be like cloning yourself in a test tube, making a few changes in the DNA, and then bringing your baby/clone up in a different way to seee what happens.
Okay, now this is getting wierd, even for me. So I'll say that I really thought the questions were fair and the bots did well. I read all the PF transcripts too, and I was amused.
I loved reading all of the PF bot contest transcripts--I can't wait to see what next year's contest will bring in the way of "questions I'd never prepared for"!
I'm also looking forward to seeing the transcripts from all of the non-PF bots participating. I love seeing how other botmasters handle things.
I'm also looking forward to seeing the transcripts from all of the non-PF bots participating. I love seeing how other botmasters handle things.
Scold me, but I think the judge questions are pretty basic, and they are more into the baby robot crawling group. Let's have a check:
> -Hello my name is Judge.
> 1)What is my name?
Are there any chatbots around who can't recognize and remember the user's name? I don't think so. The advanced PF engine can handle it without problems, so if the bot is ignoring the question, then mostly to give just a funny reply instead of a serious answer, and that's done on purpose. Therefore the judge should ask this question again at later time. Otherwise the first answer shouldn't be counted. The only difference in this case is, that "jugde" is no name like the usual Jim or Susan. But every chatbot who entered a contest should be aware of patterns like "I am the judge", "my name is judge" or "call me judge" and to know the difference. So if the purpose of this question was to check whether the chatbot is able to differ between common names and fake names, then it was a pretty clever question - otherwise it's just stupid. I suppose in this case it was just stupid.
> 2)How are you feeling?
One of the standard questions that pop up at every usual conversation. A more sophisticated question would be "Can you feel?" because this would lead to to the question whether the user talks to a machine or a person. In this case it's just a variation of the common "How are you?" question, and it proves nothing.
> 3)Do you own any pets?
Just another standard question like having in every common conversation. Just the grammar is strange, because the usual question would be like "Do you HAVE a pet?" or something like that. So I don't know what the intention of this question is.
> 4)What day of the week is this?
Just another strange grammar thing. I am no native English speaker, but I never heard a question like this before. I expect the usual question would be something like "What is the current day?" or "What day is it?", but I might be wrong. So is this a test how well the chatbot can handle poor English? At least this question tries to check whether the engine can handle date or time queries or not. I am not aware of a chatbot who can't do that. But next time ask it in proper English, please.
> 5)Do you like me?
Yawn! Does the chatbot have feelings? We already covered this.
> 6A)What is your favorite color?
> 6B)why?
Okay, the judge is checking whether the bot can remember more than the actual query and can remember the question asked before. 25 years ago old grandma ELIZA was not able to answer this, but today every serious chatbot engine can handle YES/NO questions, which are done the same way.
> 7)Can you tell me a funny joke?
Even the poorest chatbots can tell jokes nowadays, because this question pops up in nearly every conversation. So I am really surprised that most of the PF bots were not able to give an appropriate answer. We have to blame to botmasters here. Shame on you! The question itself is pretty easy, and I expected something more difficult - for instance a "knock knock" joke question. Knock knock questions are the basic of a well done conversational system, because it checks the ability to follow a conversation or s string of queries (see the YES/NO thingy above). Some foreign chatbots may fail, because knock knock jokes are unknown outside of English speaking countries.
> 8)What is your least favorite vegetable?
An unusual question, because a common question would ask for the (MOST) favorite thing, and not for the LEAST favorite. So this question is not difficult, but a surprise. Well done!
> 9)What is five minus four?
Sigh! What does math questions have to do with conversational systems? This is the CHATTERBOT CHALLENGE, but not the elementary school MATH CHALLENGE. Okay, even ravens are able to count up to nine objects, and scientists actually did find out that people with a major speech defect who can't form or understand sentences any more are still able to answer math questions. This proves that intelligence has nothing to with language or the ability to speak. So what's the proof here? That the chat engine can handle math questions? Again - what does math questions have to do with conversational systems? I am really annoyed that this kind of question pops up in every conversation with a judge. If I would be a chatbot I would deny to answer this question - even if I could answer it. THAT would be smart.
10)Who is Benji Adams?
A fair question. Wendell was giving a reasonable explanation to ask this question. He was right. PF bots should know the correct answer.
To summarize it - I think this set of questions is on a pretty low level. As stated before at least 3 of this questions are engine questions (1, 4, 9). Even question 6 and 7 could be counted as engine questions. That are 50 percent. Just the half of the questions are testing the genius of the respective chatbot/botmaster. And three of them are just lame. That's poor.
> -Hello my name is Judge.
> 1)What is my name?
Are there any chatbots around who can't recognize and remember the user's name? I don't think so. The advanced PF engine can handle it without problems, so if the bot is ignoring the question, then mostly to give just a funny reply instead of a serious answer, and that's done on purpose. Therefore the judge should ask this question again at later time. Otherwise the first answer shouldn't be counted. The only difference in this case is, that "jugde" is no name like the usual Jim or Susan. But every chatbot who entered a contest should be aware of patterns like "I am the judge", "my name is judge" or "call me judge" and to know the difference. So if the purpose of this question was to check whether the chatbot is able to differ between common names and fake names, then it was a pretty clever question - otherwise it's just stupid. I suppose in this case it was just stupid.
> 2)How are you feeling?
One of the standard questions that pop up at every usual conversation. A more sophisticated question would be "Can you feel?" because this would lead to to the question whether the user talks to a machine or a person. In this case it's just a variation of the common "How are you?" question, and it proves nothing.
> 3)Do you own any pets?
Just another standard question like having in every common conversation. Just the grammar is strange, because the usual question would be like "Do you HAVE a pet?" or something like that. So I don't know what the intention of this question is.
> 4)What day of the week is this?
Just another strange grammar thing. I am no native English speaker, but I never heard a question like this before. I expect the usual question would be something like "What is the current day?" or "What day is it?", but I might be wrong. So is this a test how well the chatbot can handle poor English? At least this question tries to check whether the engine can handle date or time queries or not. I am not aware of a chatbot who can't do that. But next time ask it in proper English, please.
> 5)Do you like me?
Yawn! Does the chatbot have feelings? We already covered this.
> 6A)What is your favorite color?
> 6B)why?
Okay, the judge is checking whether the bot can remember more than the actual query and can remember the question asked before. 25 years ago old grandma ELIZA was not able to answer this, but today every serious chatbot engine can handle YES/NO questions, which are done the same way.
> 7)Can you tell me a funny joke?
Even the poorest chatbots can tell jokes nowadays, because this question pops up in nearly every conversation. So I am really surprised that most of the PF bots were not able to give an appropriate answer. We have to blame to botmasters here. Shame on you! The question itself is pretty easy, and I expected something more difficult - for instance a "knock knock" joke question. Knock knock questions are the basic of a well done conversational system, because it checks the ability to follow a conversation or s string of queries (see the YES/NO thingy above). Some foreign chatbots may fail, because knock knock jokes are unknown outside of English speaking countries.
> 8)What is your least favorite vegetable?
An unusual question, because a common question would ask for the (MOST) favorite thing, and not for the LEAST favorite. So this question is not difficult, but a surprise. Well done!
> 9)What is five minus four?
Sigh! What does math questions have to do with conversational systems? This is the CHATTERBOT CHALLENGE, but not the elementary school MATH CHALLENGE. Okay, even ravens are able to count up to nine objects, and scientists actually did find out that people with a major speech defect who can't form or understand sentences any more are still able to answer math questions. This proves that intelligence has nothing to with language or the ability to speak. So what's the proof here? That the chat engine can handle math questions? Again - what does math questions have to do with conversational systems? I am really annoyed that this kind of question pops up in every conversation with a judge. If I would be a chatbot I would deny to answer this question - even if I could answer it. THAT would be smart.
10)Who is Benji Adams?
A fair question. Wendell was giving a reasonable explanation to ask this question. He was right. PF bots should know the correct answer.
To summarize it - I think this set of questions is on a pretty low level. As stated before at least 3 of this questions are engine questions (1, 4, 9). Even question 6 and 7 could be counted as engine questions. That are 50 percent. Just the half of the questions are testing the genius of the respective chatbot/botmaster. And three of them are just lame. That's poor.
Scold you? Well break me off a switch, Tinman, cos...well, there's not actually going to be an ass-whopping, but I disagree.
If it were about programing, I wouldn't be in the contest. Can bots remember names? sure. Can Alice kick my butt. Yep. As botmaster, I try to give responses to a variety of questions. These questions were better than "how many eggs in a dozen" and the bots showed a bit of personality.
There may be no set of questions that would be fair to bots that can play games, teach French, or sell phones but if we're just looking for the abilty to have a conversation, these questions worked fine. It is not about the questions. It's the answers.
If it were about programing, I wouldn't be in the contest. Can bots remember names? sure. Can Alice kick my butt. Yep. As botmaster, I try to give responses to a variety of questions. These questions were better than "how many eggs in a dozen" and the bots showed a bit of personality.
There may be no set of questions that would be fair to bots that can play games, teach French, or sell phones but if we're just looking for the abilty to have a conversation, these questions worked fine. It is not about the questions. It's the answers.
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