http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O8A_iVWHaY

Although I’ll always have fond memories of Halo: Combat Evolved and the original character of Cortana, the Halo franchise is starting to show signs of getting silly, and I doubt very much that I’ll be playing this game as I’m not planning to replace my now defunct XBox 360. I prefer my AIs, even the insane fictional ones, to be completely rational and comparatively free of distracting secondary sexual characteristics.

Nevertheless, the video above is worth watching by anyone interested in creating chatbots as it contains plenty of footage of the state of the art of the production process for the creation of virtual characters.

Thanks for the link, Andrew. I’m sure several of us will find it interesting and potentially useful.

Haven’t seen you in a while, mate. How are things?

Hi Dave. After five years of intensive research in natural language processing I was feeling a bit burned out so I’ve had to take an extended break from it. I’ve been recharging my mental batteries by working with robots and real people on Google+ (remember that hangout we did last year?) and that will continue to be the main focus of my online activities.

However I never really left chatbots as I continue to skim the posts almost every day, I simply didn’t feel moved to post anything until just now. Unfortunately I still have a short fuse when it comes to idiots so you’ll have to keep your moderation skills in tip-top condition as long as I’m participating.

lol, I’m used to that by now, so no worries there. But short fuse notwithstanding, I’m glad to see your posting again. I don’t use G+ as much as I should, so maybe I’ll “check in” there, at some point in the near future. I’m finally getting back to performing my full duties, so I’ll make the time to stop in over there. I do remember that hangout, and wouldn’t mind having another one, truth be told.