British contender Jabberwacky is one of only four chatbots in the finals of the Loebner Prize Contest for Artificial Intelligence (AI), on 19 September 2004 in New York.

The annual competition is getting tougher for even the chattiest of robots. This year, event sponsor Hugh Loebner has orchestrated a purer form of the Turing Test than ever before.

Rollo Carpenter's sights are set on Loebner's $25,000 Silver Prize for the first program that passes the text-based test at least 50% of the time. Most observers say that such a significant AI landmark is unlikely to be reached anytime soon, but Jabberwacky's creator thinks otherwise. "Contrary to popular belief, there is just a chance that it might happen this year. If not, and if Jabberwacky continues to learn and grow, it will happen next time around. A good number of feathers in scientific and other circles will be ruffled when it does."

Full Press Release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb155867.htm

A: You are so pretty.
B: Thank you. Are you handsome?
A: I am extremely cute.
B: What are you wearing today?

This wasn't online flirtation between two students. Indeed, only one of the participants was human. "B" was a judge of the Loebner Prize, an annual competition to find the best "chatterbot" computer program for imitating human chat, and "A" was a bot named Jabberwacky.

By Andrew Hodges, author of "Alan Turing: The Enigma".

Full Japan Times story: http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20031123a1.htm

'Tell me a joke." A small audience sits in front of a big screen waiting for a response to pop up. A short pause - then some type flickers up onscreen. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" A slight groan from the audience. A reply is dutifully typed up. "I don't know - why did the chicken cross the road?" Another pause. Up on screen, more type appears. "Because it was stapled to the elephant."

Full Guardian story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1068337,00.html