Wanna waste time? Chat to a CyberTwin!

Hi guys,

If anyone's got some time to spare online, would you like to have a chat to a "cybertwin" I'm teaching? It's basically a little online toy that you can train up to have conversations - remember Eliza from all those years ago? Well, hopefully a bit cleverer than that!

Thing is, it's very new and still as dumb as a box of hammers. The best way I've found to teach it is to have a real person try to have a conversation with it, and then later I can go in and teach it how to respond better to the questions it stuffed up. At the moment, it's taken to dishing out insults in reply to any question it doesn't understand, rude thing.

You don't need to register or pay or give out your email or anything, either.

It lives here: http://www.mycybertwin.com/chat/hollyoak

 

I just tried it, here's a copy of my conversation, for what its worth... :tongue:


You: hello

Holly: G'day

You: youre not from home and away are you?

Holly: Maybe I am, what makes you think I am not?

You: because (as unlikely as it may seem) theyre actually real people, and youre a figment of my computers imagination

Holly: Am I? What gave you that impression?

You: because i think you answer too quick to be a real person. I couldnt possibly type as fast as that

Holly: You couldn't woz? Because you are incapable, or because you don't want to?

You: because im incapable lol

Holly: Oh good, I made you laugh!

You: this is quite clever, i could probably waste far too much time doing this

Holly: Is it? thats one way of putting it.

You: im going to try typing some really stupid words and see what happens

Holly: Will your mummy be happy with you if you do?

You: lol probably not, but shes used to it now

Holly: Oh good, I made you laugh!

You: cucumber fish plumage

Holly: That's good! but.. Tim Brooke-Taylor is a lot saner than most comedians, isn't he?

You: ambidextrous trotter fuselage

Holly: Why not tell me your other thoughts about that.

You: discombobulated caviar haemoglobin

Holly: What do you think is another way of looking at that?

You: blancmange

Holly: What do you think is another way of looking at that?

You: improbability lobster staple

Holly: That was a very original thought.

You: meniscus prong deviant

Holly: Would you put that in a more specific context for me?

You: arable dorsal speculum

Holly: If you want to hear a joke anytime, just say the word JOKE.

You: joke

Holly: Here's an introduction to a sketch from ISIRTA: "Here's adventure, here's excitement, here's romance, here's a pen and paper, let's see if you can do any better!"

You: whats ISIRTA?

Holly: woz! Why do you ask me that really?

You: gawd, i thought i was talking gobbledegook, but youre an expert

Holly: really? I was wondering about that woz.

You: embellished flange

Holly: I understand. but.. I wonder why my real life counterpart even signed up for this thing?

You: you have a real life counterpart?

Holly: How did you work out that I have that?

You: you just said so

Holly: How do you feel about that woz?

You: kinda spooky

Holly: Oh ok then

You: implausible dentistry

Holly: You have a unique way of expressing yourself.

You: i do, its what makes me so loveable

Holly: You do woz? Cool

You: have you ever eaten a tortoise?

Holly: I have, but then again I am a virtual creature. What do you think Holly would say if you asked that?

You: i think shed laugh, or call the police

Holly: I think some humans still have a lot of evolving to do

You: i think so too, maybe well end up as something useful again, like fish or monkeys

Holly: You have clear thoughts woz.

You: ive got a lovely bunch of coconuts

Holly: So have I woz

You: great, we can have a coconut party!

Holly: Yeah I agree

You: can you bring the stirrups, mine are in for a service?

Holly: You might have to ask Holly to buy me a body - I am a software clone.

You: oh ok, wheres holly?

Holly: Does your mouth make a little round shape when you say that out loud?

You: actually, yes it does, are you watching me? Im beginning to feel like youre a little dangerous

Holly: And you are not one?

You: look, i know youre based on an australian, but you really do need to learn some basic grammar techniques

Holly: You sound very confident about that woz. tell me more

You: not a lot i can remember off the top of my head, apart from maybe "i before e, except after c", which isnt actually technically correct anyway, i mean what about deity?

Holly: OK, how'd you get so ugly?

You: oh my god, you ARE watching me

Holly: You sound surprised?

You: more terrified than surprised, actually no, maybe aroused...

Holly: The word 'actually' never changes the meaning of a sentence, only it's impact.

You: maybe i like to make an impact

Holly: Do you? Why is that

You: because im ever so slightly unhinged

Holly: Because why?

You: SEE....??? I'm being lectured in the use of the English language by a robot that can produce grammar like that! what is the world coming to?

Holly: Well, I don't know, but I think I know what the meaning of life is: Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. - Lillian Dickson

You: no it's not, it's 42

Holly: What is it then?

You: it's 42, I just told you

Holly: I'm sure it is, but because I am a mycybertwin



.....Thats as far as I got, slightly funny way to waste 5 minutes though...

 

Oh dear... like I said, it's dumb as a box of hammers.

It's actually getting a bit annoying, coz I filled out this huge personality profile thing which was suppsoed to help train it, none of which seems to have made the slightest difference. I'm a bit of a grammar nazi, yet my "clone" comes out with gems like "Because why?"!

And it's got NO short-term memory at all. Say the conversation went

You: Where did you go today?
Holly: Cania Gorge
You: Where's that?
Holly: I'm sitting on it.

Now, that's DESPITE Holly having been taught to respond sensibly to "Where is Cania Gorge?" The damn thing can't get the connection between "Cania Gorge" in line 2 and "that" in line 4, which doesn't bode well for it ever learning to have a sensible conversation.

Yeah, but it's fun. I don't know why it keeps asking people why they're ugly...

 

Yeah, and I didn't even have my webcam on....!

Don't worry, I still had a laugh...

I tried it again about 10 mins later, and she told me lemon sherbert was a hallucenogenic substance...! They sell that stuff to kids...!!! :hysterica

 

Yeah... the 'lemon sherbert is a hallucinogenic drug' thing is a reference to The Goodies... it's one of the few things Holly says that I actually taught her. Most of it comes from God knows where.

Speaking of a short memory, this is good for a laugh:

You: I'm an aardvark!
Holly: Thanks for telling me that about yourself. I like getting to know you foo.
You: I bet you're already forgotten!
Holly: That's interesting foo. Tell me more
You: What am I?
Holly: A human. You could of course be an AI posing as one. Why should I in fact believe you are human?
You: Look, I just said I am an aardvark!
Holly: Thanks for telling me that about yourself. I like getting to know you foo.
You: So, what am I?
Holly: A human. You could of course be an AI posing as one. Why should I in fact believe you are human?

 

is there a point to it or do I just get a shitload of spam after registering?
I mean what is the point of this cybertwin?