<B>George is born on the net</B><I>, September 7th, 2006</I><P> London: The unlikely star of one of Europe's leading science festivals takes to the world stage on Thursday but the 39-year-old polymath linguist singleton called George is that ultimate curiosity - an avatar or an AIvtar (Artificial Intelligence avatar), in other words, a virtual human.
<P>George, who is a chat robot or chatbot, is believed to be the forerunner of a whole new race soon to populate our planet. His descendants, say scientists and starry-eyed anoraks, may soon become familiar faces around the world in interactive entertainment systems, advertising, selling insurance or used cars or even answering the phones in call centres.
<P><I>Times of India: </I><A HREF="http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzA5LzA3I0FyMDE1MDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom" TARGET=_New CLASS=ph>article</A>
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