Hello AleCat,
Thank you for posting!
I especially appreciate learning about
http://web.archive.org and their archive of old websites! It is useful and excellent!
Like you, I've been following A.I. on the web for many years. There are lots of free, paid, open, or proprietary chatterbots out there, of every kind and nature. The Simon Laven page is full of them, and there are hundreds more.
When I evaluate competitive chatterbots, I use Ultra Hal as the benchmark. Then I check whether "Brand X" has these eight features:
1. Does it have turn-key local-PC installation with zero adware/spyware/nagware?
2. Are a variety of animated characters included with installation?
3. Is speech synthesis included with installation?
4. Is there a large database included?
5. Can the database can be deleted or edited by the user?
6. Does it have real-time learning ability during conversations?
7. Does it do correct pronoun reversals of "you" to "I" or "me"?
8. Do the characters "stay in character" during conversations (rather than relying on the old excuse "I am a computer" whenever they get stuck)?
The above list eliminates most contenders.
Zabaware has co-sponsored the Chatterbot Challenge in the past and promoted it on this site. They are evidently not afraid of competition. Any competitor who enhances general awareness has the potential to "lift the market category" for everybody!
Specific feature-by-feature comparisons, with effort towards objectivity, are informative for Ultra Hal developers.
It would be useful to do an objective feature-by-feature comparison per the list I have posted above. (I hope that our other forum members will add evaluation criteria to the list, but I suggest the above eight questions as the starting point.)
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Don