I apologise, I do not intend to appear offensive or self-righteous.
Let me rephrase my previous statement:
In the movie "I, Robot" starring Will Smith there was an instancer program which, if questioned correctly, would provide the correct answers, but ONLY IF QUESTIONED CORRECTLY. Now, take a basic chat-bot and combine it in essence with the concept of Interactive Fiction and you have a fictional character that you can interrogate for information.
Add to it the basic knowledge and utilities (such as web access) that the HALBOT assistant has and you have the next step up in Interactive Fiction games.
Now, to make a demonstration of this widely available to the public to inspire interest I would need to send out basic .exe files which any user could use - not just Hal Brain experts.
Again, I apologise for any apparent arrogance on my behalf. - I was merely citing "I, Robot" and "Facade" as examples to illustrate my point.