Chatbots.org Business News

Do you know that Virtual Agents are able to improve the customer experience while people are waiting for an answer? This technology understands and interprets customer questions and gives them advice related to the products and services offered, through each company contact point.

User experience is not a priority for CIOs and most of them don’t know how to estimate the return on investment (ROI) of each new technology put forward. But the customer profile has changed and nowadays people are always online and demand more information from companies. As a result so CIOs should analyze how to improve the customer service.

The Spanish company Adele Robots has launched a new project on Kickstarter, Fiona. Fiona creates a world where your electronics are an extension of your senses. The technology beyond Fiona is the platform with the same name (http://www.sparkingtogether.com).

Do many gamers remember Zelda II: Adventure of Link? It was an excellent fantasy game for the first Nintendo Entertainment System which occupied quite a lot of my evenings in 1989. The Non Player Characters were very basic though - typically a lone villager who hints which direction to head for the next dungeon. The villager kept on repeating the same hint long after I’d moved on. Nintendo’s NPCs are not much better in the latest Zelda instalment Skyward Sword in 2011, despite over 20 years of computer and game development in between.

 
Nintendo’s Zelda series from 1987 to 2011, a huge leap in graphics but not dialogue.

Are you creating a chatbot or virtual assistant?  Do you want to integrate an artificial intelligence character into a game, virtual world, website or mobile app? Have you ever wanted to create your own totally unique custom bot character, as smart as Siri, Jeannie, ALICE or Mitsuku, but with a completely different personality? Where do you start?

The ALICE A.I. Foundation has released a totally new AIML Superbot Development Kit, making it easier than ever to create custom chatbots and mobile virtual assistants. Based on the popular AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) standard, the Superbot provides a pathway to rapidly building your bot’s knowledge base. The character you create can be run on a variety of AIML platforms including Pandorabots.

We have started to work on Crowd Funding: an excellent opportunity for believers in Chatbots.org and for all people working on the website. Never heard of Crowd Funding before? Check out this nice example:

The assignments are likely to be 2-3 months, possibly part-time.

The roles are:

- C# ASP.NET developer, to work primarily on the web based management/authoring tool for our chatbots. You need solid C# ASP.NET skills but the project is not over complex so would suit a more junior coder.
- Unity developer, with a focus on scripting/coding (C#) more than 3D design. Experience of deploying Unity on the web and for iOS/Android would also be highly desirable. May extend in to 2013.

Both roles are likely to start in mid/late September, and will be based at our offices in Birmingham, although some home working may be possible.

You must hold British citizenship and will be required to bring your passport to any initial interview.

Apply through http://www.daden.co.uk

Further details may be posted on our website in due course.

Psychologists nowadays are able to measure human intelligence by using various IQ tests. Nevertheless, they still don’t agree on one common definition of human intelligence. What would happen if we apply a similar approach to measuring intelligence of artificial entities, skipping never-ending discussions on AI definition? According to professor Selmer Bringsjord and Bettina Schimanski an answer is contained in Psychometric AI (PAI).

Creative Virtual is excited to announce that they recently become the Chatbots.org Advanced Business Member with the most contribution points. Chatbots.org is a website set up and maintained by Erwin Van Lun and his team as an industrial catalyst to advance the industry of Intelligent Virtual Characters. In 2011, Chatbots.org launched their Advanced Membership Program which allows companies to become more visible on the site, complete an enhanced membership profile and have access to statistics on their profile including lead reporting. Contribution points are earned by individuals associated with the company for activities such as adding new virtual assistant listings, submitting items for the business news section and leaving comments in various areas around the site. All companies added to the site as being involved with Intelligent Virtual Characters in some capacity are included on the Companies page with Advanced Business Members appearing at the top of the list sorted by years of commitment and contribution points.

With this article I would like to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how a system like Elbot is enhanced with new capabilities. I’ll do this by walking through one of Elbot’s newer features: color learning. If you would like to try the feature before reading all the spoilers, please visit Elbot.com, and ask Elbot if he can learn.