It seems to me there are three ways to respond to input containing profanity, or some form of adult language.  The bot might respond in kind or accept it and participate, respond while ignoring it, or answer by rejecting it outright and admonishing the user, possibly along with attempting to end the conversation, change the subject, or block the visitor from further communication.

Of course, intent is a contributing factor.  Was it meant as an insult, offered as a request to discuss sexual matters (“Wanna cyber?”) or, was it merely informal street language, which is harder to pin down.  Slang is continually evolving, and the bar is always being lowered with regard to what’s acceptable on TV.  What used to be “bad words” or “forbidden thoughts” now are simply the topics for discussion on Talk Shows.

Which way should non-commercial conversation bots go?

How does your bot respond to adult language?

I think that the main criteria for making a decision like this revolves around the intended personality and/or role of the chatbot. If your bot is intended to be “family friendly”, like Morti is, then both foul language and “adult conversation” are not tolerated, and the bot should take active measures to prevent/deter it. Morti warns users twice about such behavior, and kicks the user to Google on the third offense, by replacing his URL with the URL for Google in history, thus preventing the user from just navigating back to the previous page. I would say that Morti is pretty much on the one extreme of being rather puritanical and intolerant of “adult behavior”, but that’s the way he’s designed.

By the way… Why is it called “adult language”, when it’s REALLY immature behavior?

Dave Morton - May 24, 2011:

I think that the main criteria for making a decision like this revolves around the intended personality and/or role of the chatbot.

Bingo- every bot has its place, even the “adult” ones.

Dave Morton - May 24, 2011:

By the way… Why is it called “adult language”, when it’s REALLY immature behavior?

Since when is “sex talk” immature behavior?

I take it you haven’t read Morti’s chat logs?

some considerations:
http://www.chatbots.org/directory/static/chatbots_and_sex/

Erwin Van Lun - May 25, 2011:

some considerations:
http://www.chatbots.org/directory/static/chatbots_and_sex/

Nice!

Thunder,

This is an excellent topic.

I’m putting some of this information to use right now.

May the horse be with you.

Thunder Walk - May 26, 2011:

May the horse be with you.

Thanks! 

I sent you a temporary link to my unfinished proof of concept.