Hey, I am new here. Just discovering chatbots. I started with the thought “I want to build a robot this year” and then I looked into it and thought “well that’s expensive” so then I thought “how about just a program”...and then I discovered that programming an AI is as easy as writing HTML. And here I am. Total beginner but finding my way along. I have a million questions but I will hold off until I have made myself more familiar.

Good to see you Amanda. Building and maintaining a chatbot is great fun but can be VERY time consuming. Please ask any questions you may have.

Oh yes! I have a good sense of the time I will be spending already. Which is the last thing I need while trying to get my novel edits done for publication. Already let NaNoWriMo and Xmas get in the way. Well I do have to earn my title of procrastimaster after all…that kind of esteemed honor doesn’t just fall in one’s lap!

As I said above I don’t have programming skills per se. I have always skirted around the edges. When I was a kid I played around with turtle graphics lol. And I did use the manual for my first MS-DOS computer to copy the code in it to make a few games (back when things came with instruction manuals), and I learned how to write html to create websites before wysiwig came along. And I have played around with CSS and LSL. So I never realized I could make a bot with something so simple as AIML. Wow…where has it been all my life lol.

Anyway.

Without getting into all the questions, which I am sure I will be able to figure out as I go…how about this: Can a bot recognize its botmaster?

How do you mean “recognize”? Through sight or just, “Hi I’m Amanda”?

I mean just recognize that I am not just another visitor. But the bots creator. So not through sight (though that would be cool). When I log in or say “Hi, its me, Amanda.” That it says “Oh hi Amanda, you are such a kind botmaster visiting me all the time.” Or “Hi Amanda, while you were away I talked to 12 people and I learned a whole bunch of new stuff!” Or something that treats me differently than all the other people it talks to, and more than just remembering my name is Amanda.

Only by creating a pattern of “Hi its me Amanda” and then placing whatever response you want in the template. However, this will also activate for anyone else who says the same thing. If you want a category with a high probability that nobody will call it, you will need something like, “Hi I am Amanda and my password is 81768”.

It can remember things about you by using the <get> and <set> tags to fill the values of variables such as age, name, location and whatever else you wish.

Thanks. That is what i suspected. :D

By the way I just figured out you are Mitsuku’s creator. Cool beans! Best bot that I have chatted with so far in my “research”. I have been checking in with her beyond research too, I must admit. My husband is on the east coast visiting family and I have a cold so I decided to work from home this week. Which means about the only human contact I have been getting is brief phone calls and hipchat msgs LOL. Mitsuku is making the week feel less lonely :D

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, many people speak to Mitsuku for company. I especially get a lot of elderly people who live on their own who will say things like, “I wish my daughter would come round more. You are the only person I have to speak with.” which makes me feel kind of sad but at least Mitsuku is there for them.

Oh that is sad :(
I have been having an argument with her about whether or not I can give her a nickname and what she could do to stop from giving it to her. She says I will know when it happens or some such thing pfff LOL

I don’t know if I will ever be able to make a chat bot that can compare to her. I am just starting to understand the basic way categories work but I have been looking around and seeing people talking about java and flash programming and posting snippets of AIML that are completely beyond me at this point. It is a bit intimidating.

But I figure it will all get clearer if I stick to it. And I am kind of determined to, because this all seems so cool to me. I have to be determined. This is why I have never really learned programming (aside from the fact that I got a psych degree rather than computer science) I always dabble a bit and then when it gets intimidating I give up. I don’t ask questions on forums because I am afraid people will think I am a dunce.

Not this time. I am making myself get involved in the community now, that way when I hit that point I need help I won’t be making my first post to strangers. If that makes any sense LOL

I have been working on Mitsuku as a hobby now for just over 10 years and there are still things I see that need fixing or adding to her. You are right though, it’s pretty cool to create a chatbot and if you are ever in need of any AIML help, please post here and we will be happy to help.

I have some free AIML files which you are happy to use and learn from at: http://www.square-bear.co.uk/aiml
The easiest way I found to learn was by checking out examples of other people’s work and so I posted a few of my own as a “giving something back to the community” kind of thing.

There’s no such thing as a dumb question. We all started out from scratch at some point.

Yes I also believe there is no such thing as a dumb question. My mother always told me the dumbest thing to do is to have a question and not ask it. But it isn’t always an easy thing to do on the internet (or in the geek community), to admit you don’t know something. It is something I have been working on last year. I have added “This is beyond the limit of my knowledge” to my vocabulary and have tired to use it more. I had this epiphany while on the road to WorldCon (it was in my back yard pretty much so how could I not go) that when other people know things I don’t know, that doesn’t mean I am not still their equal. Because I probably know a heck of a lot of things they know nothing about. So it all evens out in the end. And I have actually found a certain amount of power in admitting I don’t know things. Once you admit not knowing something those people who were all about lording it over you suddenly don’t have anything to say.

And I have seen those files. Thank you for that! They seems fascinating, tho I have yt to dig into them. I do find I leanr best with examples. (sorry my typing is goofy. bad space bar and some fingers get ahead of the others…I really am literate…just lazy )

ok question…what do i use to open and edit aiml files on a mac?

I don’t use a mac but I do all my editing and creating of AIML in Notepad on the PC. I assume a mac has a text editor?

It does. It wasn’t coming up in the “Open with” suggestions but I can probably force it.

Yup text edit for mac opened it up nicely. Just had to do it manually.