I am also keenly interested in the ability of the program to learn. Again, this need not be anything mindblowingly esoteric. To begin with, we allow the bot to access and add to a simple database of information. One example could be jokes, for instance.

Often, the random curveballs that bots throw out there in a gamble that it will get the conversation back into familiar territory are the biggest clue to the lack of awareness on the other side of the screen. Our bot could get bored and tell jokes as a way to change the subject. The bot could have a database of jokes to draw from, and users could even teach the bot new jokes to add to it's collection. The bot could remember which user told it which joke, and who it has told the joke to so far. Taken a step further, the bot could even ask users to rate the jokes – so that the bot can keep a ranking system of the most – least popular jokes. This is all simple database stuff, but would lend a great deal of substance to the personality ‘front end’.

Alex Scott
www.growingbrain.com.au