Don,

Many thanks for your constructive post.

With regards to “et al” I do appreciate you drawing my attention to this.

As regards my use of capitals, it is a major failing of mine that I need to address.

Jim.
PS Also many thanks for your use of “disrecommend”, a new word to me. This is something I need to think about.

Steve,

Many thanks for your post.

You say “you can’t find a way to put it on line”. This is something that I have never said. What I have said is
words to the effect that I feel it is more important that I spend my time on further developing Simplex.

With regards to the Loebner Prize, I have always thought it would be fun to enter but stopped pursuing the idea when
I read about how I had to connect to some interface software etc. Moreover, my original enthusiasm for doing this
changed when I read Moham Embars (winner in 2012?) original website, seemingly now no longer accessible!

Wikipedia’s current entry on this competition has also had a bearing:
QUOTE
Within the field of artificial intelligence, the Loebner Prize is somewhat controversial; the most prominent critic,
Marvin Minsky, has called it a publicity stunt that does not help the field along.[1]

In addition, the time limit of 5 minutes and the use of untrained and unsophisticated judges has resulted in some
wins that may be due to trickery rather than to plausible intelligence.[citation needed]
UNQUOTE

Having said that, I do think it would be fun to enter ... I would like to emphasise the word fun. In any event, I remain
grateful to this competition for providing frequent pointers to questions which do demonstrate whether a system is possibly intelligent.

Moreover that competition by it’s very nature has guided me in many ways. Not least, by ensuring that Simplex is
able to learn. ie The competition requires the system pretend to be human so the system needs its’ own life story.
That itself led me to ensure that Simplex learnt from a stream of statements such as:
your name is simplex
you were born on ... ...
You like ... ...
Your favourite ...
etc etc etc

(NB No clues from capital letters or punctuation because speech has none!)

Following my golden rules of programming (where possible always cater for the general case rather than the specific case) that in turn led me to ensure that statement such as:

My Aunt Sally’s piano teacher is called David
Davids phone number is ... ...

This in turn led me to ensure that Simplex could understand any form of relationship between people etc. I could go
on but it’s late and my second whisky is nearly finished.

To sum up ... the idea of having ‘a back story’ at first sight seems irrelevant to AI but every entity has one. Moreover,
every entity has relationships with other entities. These two facts have profound implications for any AI system.

Jim.

James Curran - Apr 12, 2014:

What I don’t have is the technical knowledge to create a website that would demonstrate Simplex to the world and ideally allow users to converse with Simplex.

Sorry, I must have read that wrong, as that to me says that you can’t put it online.

The article about the Loebner Prize is out of date. For te last few years, the judges have had 25 minutes to converse with each bot rather than 5.

I would reconsider entering, as it would definitely give you some great exposure, as very few here will put any credibility on your posts so far.

Steve,

As the current holder of the Loebner prize, your stance is quite understandable.
I suspect I would do the same.

My own view is that someone somewhere will believe me, take the trouble to see
Simplex actually working and having satisfied themselves as to proof of concept,
will end up being a wealthier person.

My ideal backer would be the UK government who ought to be interested as I believe
the success of Simplex would generate considerable employment.

A concluding screen on the current Simplex demo touches on the question of
potential as follows:

Why does everyone need Simplex but just don’t realise?

  The full range of benefits to users will only be known when Simplex has
  a widespread user base.

  Many have tried to keep a diary and failed. Simplex will encourage the
  practice of keeping a spoken diary due to the benefits that will accrue.

  Consider a simple entry on a given date which says “Lent neighbour John
  my power saw - I wonder if I’ll see that again!”

  Maybe a few years later the user can’t find his power saw so asks
  “Any idea where my power saw is?” to which there is the instantaneous
  response “You lent your your power saw to your neighbour John on the 17th
  March 2013.”

  The response is instant because of the unique methods employed to obtain
  information that has been stored. This means that hundreds, thousands
  perhaps millions of sentences do not have to be searched and analysed to
  locate tbe wherabouts of the power saw!

  Such a user will be abe to automatically create items such as an up to
  date CV etc and in future years, if desired the user’s ancestors will be
  able to question the user as though he or she was alive!

The range of possible applications are endless! I suspect the NHS could save
millions with applications such as cognitive behaviour therapy etc. For that
reason alone the UK government should be backing this project.

Jim.

James Curran - May 27, 2014:

My own view is that someone somewhere will believe me, take the trouble to see
Simplex actually working ...
Jim.

That is pretty hypocritical coming from someone who can’t even be bothered to post as much as a screenshot.

Disclaimer: By expressing a difference of opinion, please do not claim any attempt to annoy or irritate is being made. It is not… Promise!  So please, don’t report this to the Chatbot.EU

Jim, I believe you. If this were some type of gag, you know, it would not change the fact that there are amazing homegrown A.I. systems out there, which are very interesting to discuss.

I believe in those (like you) who have taken the time to develop an A.I. system which may predate the Internet, or even operating systems for that matter.

For protection, it is common that high quality A.I. systems are kept secret. So, I take your word for it, and don’t mind whether you demonstrate it or not. The fact that an online demo is being refused, frankly, should encourage others to take it more seriously.

∞Pla•Net - May 27, 2014:

...So, I take your word for it, and don’t mind whether you demonstrate it or not. The fact that an online demo is being refused, frankly, should encourage others to take it more seriously.

Trust but Verify.  The former without the latter is nothing more than faith and hope, and at worst, naivety.

anguis oleum (Anyone else know their Latin?)

timeo danaos et dona ferentes ad nauseum ad infinitum

Verba movent, exempla trahunt.

As mentioned previously, here is the demo bot.
The interface is php, and avatar is ajax, but
the brain is cpp.

http://www.elizabot.net/cpp/bot.php

At the risk of becoming the author of the least
advanced AI system, unless told otherwise: It’s
purpose is to demo how cpp bots like Arckon, or
Simplex, or even Chatscript may look online.

I like that 8man. Pretty cool.

Jim,
I believe you. And I apologize for the BS you’re getting here. If I was closer, I’d examine what you have and post for better or worse what I found.  Don’t be distracted by naysayers. Keep doing what you’re doing and share it when you can. I’ve gotten the same BS about my robot till the naysayers actually saw it, then they became my biggest advocates.

And for all you other..well..people (to keep it polite)...I suggest you remember your manners. Just because you don’t believe him doesn’t give you the right to be downright rude. You have the right to disbelieve him, but if you insist on being rude about it, I’m going to insist on thinking that you’re an idiot. That’s a fair trade.

John

{edited for content - family site, after all}

John Lizotte - May 28, 2014:

Jim,
..for the BS… the same BS…I suggest you remember your manners.
John

Speaking of hypocracy, wow! Swear much, Mr. “Manners”?

{also edited for content, for the same reason}

BTW, John, I thought I should point out (lest there be a misunderstanding) that my “snake oil” comment wasn’t directed at James’ claims, but at Tom’s post. I’ve known Tom (AKA 8pla) long enough to have a pretty good idea when he’s “troll feeding” (e.g. making comments to elicit strong reactions), and this was one of those times. I’m just surprised that you were the one to give that “strong reaction”