I am really glad that Steve won, because I feel it is long overdue, after Mitsuku got disqualified in first place in the chatterbox challenge for being an AIML bot which may go down in history as the most unfair call a judge has ever made in a chatbot contest (Not disrespecting the judges, though… Judges word is final… That’s the rules.) And also because Mitsuku did not compete this year in the Chatbot Battles contest.
Also, I just want to mention, that I enjoyed the chatbots that did not win this year because in my opinion those chatbots add good entertainment value to the chatbot contest. I think any guest of a chatbot contest, learning about chatbots, appreciates the different stages a chatbot my go through before reaching the top of their game.