Hello,
Thank you for posting! Glad to meet you!
Like you, I have also been following and studying A.I. on the web since nearly "day one." There are large numbers 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. It's hard to keep track of them all, and in fact, I've downloaded chatterbots that I haven't even had time to try out.
The "Virtual Humans" book urges readers to create their own chatterbots.
When I evaluate additional chatterbots, I use Ultra Hal as the benchmark of comparison. I check whether "Brand X" has the following:
1. Turn-key local installation with zero adware/spyware?
2. Animated characters included with installation?
3. Speech synthesis included with installation?
4. Large database included?
5. The database can be deleted or edited by the user?
6. Real-time learning ability during conversations?
7. Correct pronoun reversals of "you" to "I" or "me"?
8. Characters "stay in character" during conversation (rather than relying on the very old excuse "I am a computer, ha ha ha" whenever they get stuck)?
I have found that the above list eliminates 99% of the contenders. You might want to add your own favorite features to the comparison list.
Zabaware has co-sponsored the Chatterbot Challenge in the past and promoted it on this site. They are evidently not afraid of competition.
In fact, such a small percentage of the general population has any awareness of chatterbots, 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 and useful for Ultra Hal developers.
Sincerely,
Don
