Chat robot's past and present

In 1966, long before Hoffer and his colleagues created SmarterChild, MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum published ELIZA, a project that mimicked people's conversations. ELIZA analyzes the words entered by the user into the computer and then matches them to generate a list of possible script responses.

ELIZA, using scripts that mimicked psychotherapists, proved to have a major impact on natural language processing and artificial intelligence, and universities across the country followed suit. But Weizenbaum is plagued by people's reactions. He originally intended that ELIZA only imitated human conversation, but was suddenly used by users to confide in their innermost thoughts. Experts claim that chat robots and humans will be difficult to distinguish in a few years.

In his book Computer Power and Human Reason, Weizenbaum opposes the notion that machines can replace human intelligence. He believes that machines are just tools, and an extension of the human mind. He also emphasized that machines' understanding of language is entirely dependent on the context in which they are used, and that computers that have a more complete understanding of human language are impossible.

However, in the following decades, chat robot manufacturers built more humanized interactive robots based on the Weizenbaum model. Passing the Turing test has become a common goal, and as competitions such as the Loebner Awards are set up, the human jury tests the conversational skills of the new robot. So far, although Weizenbaum's machine limitations are correct: despite significant advances (some robot manufacturers are exaggerated), there is no Turing test that a robot can actually pass.

“The most difficult thing about the Turing test is that there is no limit to what people are talking about.” Lycos, the founder of Lycos, said that he was the creator of Verbots, a popular chat robot development tool in the 1990s. “Even if you tell people that their conversation is limited to a topic, everyone knows differently.”

Even the recent advances in big data and artificial intelligence have not solved the problem of Turing testing. Now using a lot of training data and processing power, you can teach the machine to understand and talk to humans. But Mauldin pointed out that losing control of training data creates new problems. (See: The racism and gender discrimination of Microsoft's chat bot Tay.)

"If you look at what you build, you will see a lot of data," Mauldin said. "There is no way to ensure that the solution is correct or that you want it because it is like a The real brain."

Although chat robotics, programmers and enthusiasts have proliferated many years after the creation of ELIZA, SmarterChild is the first to become a popular consumer. Peter Levitan, CEO of SmartBaddy, a maker of SmarterChild, has said that chat bots attract more than 30 million users, up to 5% of global instant messaging traffic.

SmarterChild is able to reach so many people because it is built on the world's dominant information platform, just like the new chat bot is designed to run on Facebook Messenger because it can be fast and easy Friends chat. But what really makes this chat bot unique is how it spans the line between human-like interaction and machine-like utility.

If you like, you can talk happily with SmarterChild, which relies on pattern matching and scripting answers, just like the concepts used by ELIZA decades ago. Instead, you can lick it and even blame it, it always seems to know how to deal with it. (The creator of SmarterChild didn't evade, trying to trick the chat bot is a popular pastime. "I believe that trying to convince SmarterChild to have sex, you will become a net red," Hoffer said.

When you are tired of chatting or taunting, SmarterChild can also provide you with useful information. To do this, ActiveBuddy works with various service providers to provide weather, stock, movie listings, and more. This is part of a business plan that provides a smart assistant.

“Once you have a relationship with someone, this relationship will expand in different ways,” said Andy Weissman, one of ActiveBuddy's first investors. “And once you have a relationship with SmarterChild, you will use it for a web search and you will get the information you need.”

But at the beginning of the 21st century, it is very difficult to build this kind of master intelligence. Hoffer pointed out that every branch of the conversation must be based on the text, and ActiveBuddy constantly adds user experience to the script.

“All interactions are well edited and programmed, so a lot of staff is needed,” Hoffer said.

On the other hand, SmarterChild faces business barriers. Prior to the open web services API, each source of information needed to establish a partnership with a particular company, unlike any developer who now has information on it. And because of the popularity of SmarterChild, it is constantly limited by its host information platform.

"We have these huge, bureaucratic, profit-seeking, ad-driven media companies, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, and we have to negotiate with each company, and it's a nightmare," Hoffer said.

After a few years, ActiveBuddy moved to provide virtual customer service personnel for the enterprise. Although this was a commercial point of view, it was successful because it was acquired by Microsoft in 2006, but Weissman always had some regrets that SmarterChild did not insist on its core business.

After SmarterChild, the chat bot was abandoned for several years. Microsoft has shut down SmarterChild's high-tech division, which is largely evaded by consumer-oriented high-tech companies.

But in the past few years, chat bots have come back. With the passage of time and advances in processing power, robots now have a better understanding of natural language and learning from users. Equally important, big companies like Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft are now eager to host our interactions and services, and provide developers with tools for those services. Chat bots easily enter larger business models such as advertising, e-commerce, online services and device sales. At the same time, on a platform like Messenger that reaches hundreds of millions of users, it will help write chat scripts.

"A lot of things were an obstacle for us at the time, because the evolution of technology, today is no longer a barrier for us," Hoffer said.

What's important is that these robots existed from the beginning to help people. Yes, Apple's Siri knows how to break the deadlock with a few jokes, but it's largely done to help you get things done. Its competitors, Google and Amazon's robots, did not show much personality. Thanks to technical support, utilities can flourish.

Built into the messaging app like Facebook Messenger and WeChat, the interaction with people is just a vague conversation.

If this round of chat robots is successful, they may prove that Weizenbaum, the creator of ELIZA, is correct. These machines are not warm, cute alternatives to human wisdom. They are just another set of tools that have served us for many years and are constantly evolving applications.

In other words, the current chat bot has practicality in addition to playability.

(Editor)

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