I remember watching science fictions films about robots and intelligent computers when I was a little girl. I have always thought that it would be nice to talk to my computer. Of course, we don't have that much technology yet but we have the primitive examples of artificial intelligence: The bots.
A bot is a computer program that is designed to stimulate a logical conversation with human users via text, audio or both. Many of the bots seem surprisingly intelligent. They can interpret user input and provide logical responses and even ask questions. Some of the bots simply scan for the keywords and use automatic reply that is already stored on the database or if it's a better bot, it can also store the users' answers and questions and use them in other conversations with different user.
There are some friendly bots on the web that we can use in teaching. They provide good activities to practice reading, writing and if it's a speaking bot, even in listening. Of course, it's a good idea to keep in mind 18+ issues. Here are some of the bots that deserve to give a try:
Bot Morpheus is a bot that can write and speak at the same time. The answers are logical, it also asks questions and analyze your answers.
Bell stands for Bot for English language learning. It can answer some math questions, talk about the countries and even make some jokes. You can hear Bell talking too.
Jenny the bot is a child bot that learns from the conversation. It takes her only 10 seconds to answer the questions. You have to use long and meaningful sentences, your conversation should be engaging and you have to talk decently, otherwise Jenny will block you off.
Shakespeare has an interactive bot that assists the learning and working of Shakespeare. It can also handle image and file requests and it provides Shakespearean word glossary with huge information on his various plays.
Santa has a bot too, you can talk to him and ask what you wish to have in the first place for Xmas.
Eliza is programed as a psychotherapist and an interesting example of the artificial intelligence programs. This bot is one of the earliest bots that has been developed.
Jabberwacky is another artificial intelligence that learns from every word you write. He understands more than 30,000 words and more than 2,200,000 sentences.
Here comes a MathBot that will only answer your questions about math. It can answer simple problems such as addition,division, multiplication etc.
Marc is a bot that remembers you and your conversation when you log in the next time.
Splotchy is a friendly and a funny bot and he can be amazingly intelligent. He may be cranky sometimes but if he is in a good mood he can be flirty too.
Chatbots or talk bots provide a natural language learning process to the users. I believe with the exponential growth in technology in the next decades, we are approaching a time where we will discover the artificial intelligence can be a tool that is more than fun or simply a chat but a tool to practice, learn and reinforce the language learning through natural language process. I can't wait for those times.
Cross posted on my blog.
