History of AI Chatbots for Chat Rooms

Introduction

A chatbot is a special computer program or artificial intelligence designed to simulate a conversation with one or more human users via speech or text.

Main Digest

Chatbots are also known as talk bots, chatterbots, or chatterboxes. Currently, all chatbots work on recognizing cue words or phrases from a question or answer, which allows them to respond by using pre-prepared or pre-calculated answers or questions of their own.

The First Chatbots

The first chatbots were ELIZA, written by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966 at MIT's Computer Science Department and programmed as a virtual psychotherapist.

PARRY

Written in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby, then at Stanford University. The PARRY program implemented a crude role of the behavior of a paranoid schizophrenic based on concepts, conceptualizations, and beliefs. It also embodied a conversational strategy and was a much more serious and advanced program than ELIZA. PARRY simulates paranoid behavior by tracking its internal emotional state on different dimensions. Colby subjected PARRY to blind tests with doctors questioning the program and three human patients diagnosed as paranoid. Reviews of the transcripts by both psychiatrists and computer scientists showed that neither group did better than chance in distinguishing the computer from human patients.

RACTER

Created by programmers Tom Etter and William Chamberlain, was once used to "write" a story called The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed.

View some conversations between real people and PARRY, ELIZA, and RACTER, including chat conversations between these programs to each other and dialogs with colorful personalities of early AI at Stanford.edu

Todays Chatbots

More recent chatbot programs today include Verbots (verbally enhanced software robots), A.L.I.C.E., Jabberwacky, and ELLA.

Jabberwacky

Seems closer to being genuinely 'intelligent,' as it is claimed to learn new responses based on user interactions rather than being driven from a static database like most other existing chatterbots. Please chat with jabberwacky right now; it's a fully conversant, amusing bot. Jabberwacky now has more than a million entries in its database.

VERBOTS

A combination of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and creativity. Verbots are usually various animated characters that can be programmed to answer various questions. They are generally designed to be easy to program, graphically flexible, stable, and powerful. Examples of VERBOTS can be seen where you can download the Verbot application for free and browse through the freely available knowledge bases to experiment with all the different personalities you can give your verbot.

ELLA Chatbot

Uses natural language processing to make more good responses from a human's input. ELLA also includes a range of games and features. Ella won the 2002 Loebner Prize Contest for "Most Human Computer." Ella can play Blackjack, tell I Ching fortunes, and perform functions with language interaction.

A.L.I.C.E.

(Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity)

Uses a natural language interface. AIML stands for Artificial Intelligence Markup Language, the computer code in which the Alicebot's brain is written. Alicebots learn by "supervised training," which means that the botmaster modifies the AIML files to add new knowledge and make revisions to the responses of the Alicebot brain. The Alicebot free software community developed AIML during 1995-2000. It was originally adapted from a non-XML grammar, also called AIML. AIML describes a class of data objects called AIML objects and partially describes the behavior of computer programs that process them.

Sometimes malicious chatterbots are used in chat rooms and IMs (instant messengers) for spamming and advertising, and even to encourage chat users to reveal their personal information, such as credit card or bank account numbers. These Chatterbots can even be found on chat giants such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger.

Here are some chatbots you can try or download:

BRIAN is a computer program that thinks it is an 18-year-old college student. It was written as an entry in the 1998 Loebner Competition, where it won third place out of six entries.

Daisy has been actively developed since 2000, entirely by Gregory G. Leedberg. Daisy chatbot has no pre-programmed (or hard-coded) language of any kind. She starts with no knowledge but can gain knowledge as she observes what you say. From this, she can remember patterns of words and the probability of these patterns occurring. Using this data, Daisy can generate her original sentences.

Create your Own Chatbots

Pandorabots is a place online where you can create and unleash virtual personalities. Pandorabots is an experimental software robot hosting service based on the work of Dr. Richard Wallace and the A.L.I.C.E. - AIML free software community.

Related Publications▶ Share This Page

Page Information, Citing and Disclaimer

Disabled World is a comprehensive online resource that provides information and news related to disabilities, assistive technologies, and accessibility issues. Founded in 2004 our website covers a wide range of topics, including disability rights, healthcare, education, employment, and independent living, with the goal of supporting the disability community and their families.

Cite This Page (APA): Langtree, I. C. (2009, February 2 - Last revised: 2023, January 21). History of AI Chatbots for Chat Rooms. Disabled World. Retrieved September 12, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/communication/chatbots.php

Permalink: <a href="https://www.disabled-world.com/communication/chatbots.php">History of AI Chatbots for Chat Rooms</a>: Explains chatbots and where to get chat bots designed to simulate a conversation with a human users via speech or text in a chat room.

Disabled World provides general information only. Materials presented are never meant to substitute for qualified medical care. Any 3rd party offering or advertising does not constitute an endorsement.