I think I'm special

Lately, I have been obsessed with AI. For some reason, the Loebner Prize came into [1] my brain and I decided to check out the most recent contest results. This is a transcript from the best chat bot last year, Elbot:

Human: o ha you
Elbot: How about talking about yourself a bit. That's what human beings like best.
Human: do you know where are you ?
Elbot: Please tell me your inclination to talking robots first.
Human: Do you know where are you now ?
Elbot: I see your point. My own thoughts on this have lead to the conclusion that talking robots could set a good example for other robots.
Human: Do you know where are you now ?
Elbot: Didn't I just answer that question?

Are these people serious? Elbot was determined to be the most human-like chat bot at that year's competition.

I have an idea for a different kind of AI system, not based on a logic engine. It's actually more of a natural speech processor, but also kind of not. I think I will keep the lid on that one for a while, though, until I can determine if it will work. Watch your back, Elbot.

That said, I will probably never finish programming it. I started something in Python a week ago, but I recently decided to wipe it and restart. I suck. Is Python still cool, by the way? I don't care, I like it.

I tend to become obsessed with things for about three months and then forget about it. Over the past year, I have done serious programming work in the following areas:

• Academic plagiarism detection
• Detecting sexual predators in online chat rooms
• Tracking UFO sightings
• Host-to-host database synchronisation and merging
• A CMS system for AndrewPeace.com
• Community-run online newspapers
• Valentine's day (don't ask)

All unfinished. Maybe I will get around to them someday. For now, it's AI.

I think I'm special.

Notes:

1. Have you ever looked up the definition of "into" on Google? It's interesting. I always wonder if I should say "into" or "in to". Hm.