CR,

I value your opinion (I think you know that).

C R Hunt - Jun 8, 2012:

It helps to have a comprehensive understanding of what has been done in any area before you attempt to dive into that field yourself. However, providing someone who has developed commercial chatbot software a link to the wikipedia article for ‘robot’ is hardly lending a helping hand.

Well, my bad then. From his post I didn’t got the idea that he is as knowledgeable on the topic as you present him to be. Maybe I got it all wrong.

Just as a side note; I see people with a PhD (some times more then one PhD) make totally uninformed statements. It happens.

C R Hunt - Jun 8, 2012:

I think problems in the past have arisen mainly due to bold claims made about vaporware, not due to people becoming offended at being called hobbiests.

I seriously beg to differ; I had discussions in the past with Erwin about setting up a forum for more scientifically aimed discussions. It never came to that because, besides me, it seems nobody is interested in that. Besides that, any scientifically informed person would see the difference between a hypothesis and vaporware. The fact that this forum is mostly about tinkering with software, it’s obvious where that is coming from.

C R Hunt - Jun 8, 2012:

It is my understanding that none of the companies you listed (and very few universities anywhere) are seriously pursuing strong-AI.

I did serious research over the last year to see where the projects are going, and I can simply state that you are wrong in this assumption. As I’m actually working in that field, I need to know what the current state-of-art is.

C R Hunt - Jun 8, 2012:

Hans Peter Willems - Jun 7, 2012:

But what really bugs me, is that because of this it seemingly is impossible to have a discussion just a little above the ‘hobbyist’ mark.

Yes, because when someone tries to start one, he gets sent to wikipedia.

Indeed, as sometimes that seems to be in order. I myself really like to get links to wikipedia, research papers and what else. It helps me to find new insights !

C R Hunt - Jun 8, 2012:

I’m excited to see where your work leads and I’m glad you’re more active on the forum again.

I came back because Erwin asked me repeatedly. Setting up the new website seemed like a good moment. But is seems I got sucked in again, and it might be better to simply stay away here

Hans Peter Willems - Jun 8, 2012:

...referring to ‘the past’, where the ambiance (at some times) was… well let’s say ‘unfriendly’

time to move on.

Hans Peter Willems - Jun 8, 2012:

Victor,
(by the way… Hi Victor )

Yeah, Hi. .good to have you back !

Hans Peter Willems - Jun 8, 2012:

But is seems I got sucked in again, and it might be better to simply stay away here

Please don’t, Hans Peter. The overwhelming majority of us, even those who disargee with you over some point or another, value and respect your opinions and ideas, and losing you (again) would be a great loss. I understand your frustration about the misinformation that (mostly inadvertantly) pops up here from time to time, and I’ve come to see that you’re not the type of person to let that stand, which is good. It’s also fairly obvious to many of us that you don’t like to mince your words, and that you simply say what’s on your mind. Personally I find that to be rather refreshing, especially since I can’t seem to force myself to do the same. Furthermore, I’m not about to ask you to change, since I don’t like it when someone pulls that same crap on me. I’m just too set in my ways to do so anyway.

What I AM asking you to do, though, is to consider sticking around and continuing to give us your perspective and insight. Those of us who know you can probably take into account that you’re more direct in your “speech” than the rest of us, and will likely try to take that into account, and I can do what I can to get people to see that you’re not trying to insult someone in your replies. Does that sound fair to you?

Lots of good ideas and useful inventions have come from the ranks of enthusiasts and so called ‘amateurs’ over the years, I don’t see why AI is any different.

There is plenty of room for professionals and amateurs…

Roger Davie - Jun 9, 2012:

Lots of good ideas and useful inventions have come from the ranks of enthusiasts and so called ‘amateurs’ over the years, I don’t see why AI is any different.

There is plenty of room for professionals and amateurs…

yeah, as in, pretty much all.

One great example is this one guy, a patent clerk, that , well,  ‘slightly’ influenced physics

Yeah, I had him in mind, always forget his name….

Vic Duan - Jun 4, 2012:

A product is tagged “the best chatbot in the world” and then is used as a good proof why chatbots do NOT work.

Let’s not forget that this year only about half the entries were tested. Big names such as Cleverbot, Ultra Hal and ALICE were not even included in the testing. None of the 5 AIML bots were tested. I remember saying at the time that this will give the general public a bad impression of chatbots and they will think we are no further along than Eliza some 50 or 60 years ago and unfortunately, several press releases said just that.

With all due respect to Mohan, this bot was the winner of the ones that the organizers were able or could be bothered to test and should not be automatically classed as the best chatbot in the world.

I could organise a 100 metres athletics event and bar any decent runner such as Usain Bolt. This would not mean the eventual winner was the fastest man in the world.

Steve Worswick - Jun 10, 2012:

Let’s not forget that this year only about half the entries were tested. Big names such as Cleverbot, Ultra Hal and ALICE were not even included in the testing…

Yes, we need to convey such facts to the public properly. Nothing is worng with the testing itself indeed. Even those news articles mentioned the limit of the testing more or less. However most readers would just browse the first paragraphs or even only the deadline and get a wrong impression.

Erwin Van Lun - Jun 8, 2012:

On a sidenote: would it be possible to upload a resembling picture of yourself?

Ah, I confess my “avatar” looks strange here as all other members use a “live” picture. Please let a bit time to me. I’ll update it as soon as I have access to my photos.

Erwin Van Lun - Jun 8, 2012:

On another sidenote: don’t forget to add your company Acobot to our company directory: http://www.chatbots.org/companies/add/

Submitted Acobot to company directory.

A note: Please help to delete Acosys from the directory. Acobot was developed under the umbralla of Acosys. As it grows and demonstrates a great potential (now Acobot is chatting on 16,000+ web pages), we spin it off and set up a new company Acobot LLC dedicated to this project.