The Speculist

George Bush, Robot

George W. Headroom?

This sounds like a "news" story from ScrappleFace or the Onion, but it's for real:

The new AI Bush program is the most advanced AI deployment of EllaZ Systems. The program “Ella” won the prestigious worldwide Loebner Prize Contest in 2002 as the “most human computer.” AI Bush is a further development of that technology, bringing skills and entertainment you'll find nowhere else.

According to KurzweilAI.net, AI Bush is, by chatbot standards, really smart:

The program includes the WordNet lexical database, which gives AI Bush a sizable vocabulary of 99,000 unique definitions and 120,000 words and small-word groups.

A collection of classic books on philosophy, history, adventure, drama, literature also helps, along with thousands of Convuns (conversational units) that include images, trivia, jokes, poems, anecdotes, limericks, fables, quotes, maxims, and tongue-twisters. It can use XML web services to retrieve changing information on weather, stock prices, and currency exchange rates, along with the CIA World Factbook 2003.

Plus, the chatbot version of the President possesses some skills that the real W doesn't have (at least as far as I know): he's an excellent chess player and enjoys interpreting the I Ching. Interestingly, the developers seem interested not in promoting President Bush (although the chatbot comes with a game called "Reelect Bush") or in making fun of him, though the FAQ does include this snarky tidbit:

Finally, AI Bush exposes users to some badly mangled grammar spoken by the real-life GWB. EllaZ Systems disclaims responsibility for the foreseeable injury this could cause to young minds.

The folks at EllaZ Systems seem more interested in creating a chatbot with a recognizable persona than they are in making a political statement. Unlike most chatbots, AI Bush has something to do: he's got a country to run. And in trying to get reelected, he has a clearly stated goal for the future.

Users can also teach AI Bush new information in specialized areas. Based on the following description of a possible strategy for the Reelect Bush game, there's at least one current event that they need to get their chatbot up to speed on:

Should that CIA plan for Iraq be approved? Bill Clinton and Albert Gore have a modest proposal. Consider holding back some news on capturing you-know-who until just before the polls open? There is an unpopular spending proposal that saves lives but gets few votes. Dust off that flight suit for a Space Shuttle ride? GWB's future and conscience are in you hands!

I realize that ordinarily when I write on this subject, I include a transcript of the interaction with the bot in question. I haven't chatted with AI Bush yet because the download costs $29.95, and I haven't decided whether I want to shell out the money or try to get somebody to give it to me for Christmas. By the way, this would make a great gift for that accelerating change enthusiast on your shopping list who already has enough books.

Posted by Phil at December 15, 2003 06:58 AM | TrackBack