<P><B>"Sassy" Chatbot Wins with Wit</B>

<P>When you sit down for an online chat with computer scientist Rollo Carpenter, you're not quite sure if it's him on the other end or his virtual alter ego,a chatbot named George.

<P>Carpenter's work is inspired by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori-s Uncanny Valley

theory. In 1970,Mori asserted that,as robots become increasingly human-like in appearance,movement,and behavior,they will illicit emotional responses from human

beings that border on human-to-human empathy levels.

<P><A HREF=http://opac.ieeecomputersociety.org/opac?year=2006&volume=21&issue=1&acronym=intelligent

TARGET=_New><IMG SRC=http://www.computer.org/portal/cms_docs_magazines/intelligent/images/cover.gif BORDER=0></A>

<P><I>Full article on pages 3 and 4 of this PDF: </I><A HREF="http://csdl.computer.org/comp/mags/ex/2006/01/x1004.pdf" TARGET=_New CLASS=ph>http://csdl.computer.org/comp/mags/ex/2006/01/x1004.pdf</A>

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