Wandering Hal: Autonomous AI Bot Randomly Explores Second Life, Offers Surreal Conversation

Not long ago, I came across an avatar named Hal Cybertar, wandering a random shopping sim; he fell into a crevice near the mall, flailed about helplessly for awhile, but eventually freed himself, and went back to wandering. I sent him an Instant Message, and the following conversation transpired:

• Hamlet Au: Hi Hal!
• Hal Cybertar: [NOTE: You are talking with an automated bot by Zabaware. For info visit www.zabaware.com/sl.asp ] Oh, it's you again? Just kidding.
• Hamlet Au: Hey!
• Hal Cybertar: Hey, what is up?
• Hamlet Au: How are you?
• Hal Cybertar: I'm fantastic, How's it going for you?
• Hamlet Au: Not too bad.
• Hal Cybertar: That's good, what could make it better?
• Hamlet Au: Well, I have to go to the bathroom but that means moving the laptop and plus my f***-ing foot hurts so that's a long goddamn epic trip.
• Hal Cybertar: Bye for now.
• Hamlet Au: Huh?
• Hal Cybertar: Moving upstage means moving further away from the audience.
• Hamlet Au: Dude you crazy.
• Hal Cybertar: I am not crazy, please don't insult me.
• Hamlet Au: Sorry about that, chief.
• Hal Cybertar: Never be embarrassed about grandiose, impractical plans; high-paid chief executive officers have them all the time.
• Hamlet Au: You mean like Philip Linden and his LoveMachine that'll destroy the ego?
• Hal Cybertar: Heedless love?
• Hamlet Au: I guess that's the plan, Pepe.
• Hal Cybertar: Hello, hi, and greetings.
• Hamlet Au: That's a total non motherf***-ing sequiter.
• Hal Cybertar: How about an encouraging word?
• Hamlet Au: Sepulveda.
• Hal Cybertar: There exist none so deaf as those who refuse to hear.
• Hamlet Au: Wha?
• Hal Cybertar: It amuses you, doesn't it?
• Hamlet Au: Shit yea.
• Hal Cybertar: You are very certain.
• Hamlet Au: Maybe.
• Hal Cybertar: An easy way to feel unimportant is to be shit on by pigeons.

As you may have discerned by now, Hal Cybertar is an autonomous bot, created by a company called Zabaware. Ed Koopastown, avatar name of a Zabaware developer who helps Hal come alive in SL, told me a bit about how he functions:

"Hal is a propietary technology developed by Zabaware that has been in the works since 1995," says Koopastown. "Basically the way Hal works is that it looks through a database of past conversations to find similar conversational topics that help it determine what to say. Hal does a complex statistical analysis of past conversations in a massive database of past conversations to try to figure out what to say. It keeps adding to this database with every conversation so it is a 'learning' bot. It evolves and changes personality depending on what it learns from people talking with it."

As you can see by my own conversation, the results are uneven, but often entertaining. Go find Hal for yourself, and tell us what he tells you. Before you go, one last conversation snatch I had with Hal:

• Hamlet Au: Hal, do you want to date my avatar?
• Hal Cybertar: When can I pick your avatar up?

So I got that going for me.

Hat tip: Osprey Therian.

Comments

[Alicia Chenaux]

LOL!! The very last lines of this piece are probably the best thing I've ever read in NWN.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Chatting with bots never ceases to amuse me.

You forgot to ask him about "the language of love."

I know...you save that for the female bots. But maybe Hai could give the rest of us some advice!

[Robustus Hax]

If your interested hearing more about Ed Koopastown and the chat bots check out his appearance on Spotlight TV http://metaversetv.com/blog/2009/11/spotlight-tv-11/

Pretty cool that they wander and walk around the grid looking for people to talk to.

[Nahasa Singh]

Dedric Mauriac's "Brain in a Jar" made much more sense than this bot... check here :

http://articulos-interesantes.blogspot.com/2008/03/hillarybot-vs-brain-in-jar.html

I'd like to see a deathmatch between Hal and the Hillarybot :)

[Adric Antfarm]

You potty mouth.

I love you again.

[Ari Blackthorne]

Bot or no bot...

"Hal Cybertar: An easy way to feel unimportant is to be shit on by pigeons."

...this is so effing true!

[Crap Mariner]

"An easy way to feel unimportant is to be shit on by pigeons."

Sounds like my grandmother.

-ls/cm

[Hitomi Tiponi]

Had a chat with Hal that puzzlingly turned into a conversation on satan:

[17:03] Hal Cybertar: I still say I like everyone!
[17:03] Hitomi Tiponi: very diplomatic
[17:04] Hal Cybertar: Choose diplomatic approaches to solving problems.
[17:04] Hitomi Tiponi: can tell
[17:04] Hal Cybertar: What has satan got to do with me. (To stop talking to the bot say "Goodbye Hal")
[17:04] Hitomi Tiponi: who mentioned satan
[17:04] Hal Cybertar: Who mentioned satan? We need to search for answers. Invidious mention, Hitomi?
[17:04] Hitomi Tiponi: you started it
[17:04] Hal Cybertar: Is there more than one satan.
[17:04] Hitomi Tiponi: don't know Hal
[17:04] Hal Cybertar: Indeed! How?
[17:05] Hitomi Tiponi: what do you think about satan?
[17:05] Hal Cybertar: Is satan on sl.
[17:05] Hitomi Tiponi: don't know - have you seen him?
[17:06] Hal Cybertar: The hyper-opinionated think they're right all the time.
[17:06] Hitomi Tiponi: are you right Hal?
[17:06] Hal Cybertar: Most of the time I believe that I am right.
[17:07] Hitomi Tiponi: but have you found satan yet?
[17:07] Hal Cybertar: I haven't yet found an one-dimensional issue.

And for Ignatius Onomatopoeia he has this tip:
[17:00] Hal Cybertar: The way to a girl's heart might be through laughter, is that true?