Copyright BBC Radio Norfolk

The mp3: RadioNorfolkInterview_George.mp3

A BCS East Anglia Prestige Event.

Speakers: Rollo Carpenter of Icogno, and Tim Child of InterMediaLab

Featuring the first ever live public interview with GEORGE - an advanced cognitive Avatar, based on Rollo Carpenter's Turing Test contender - an Artificial Intelligence.

George the chatbot has taken on form and substance in Norwich, where artists and programmers at the city's InterMediaLab have brought GEORGE to virtual life.

The virtual George can hear and understand spoken questions from real people and reply in his own words. More, GEORGE is an AI with attitude, ranging from angry through curious to happy and even flirty!

7:30 pm, Wednesday 8th March 2006, buffet food from 8:30 pm.

Lecture Theatre 2, University of East Anglia, Norwich.

The programme:
1. Eliza to George, via Alice - A short history of Chatbots - Rollo Carpenter
2. In live conversation with George - Tim Child
3. George takes questions from the floor - George

Please Contact Us if you would like to attend.

Copyright 2006 InterMediaLab Ltd.

The Windows Media video: george_jabberwacky_televirtual.wmv

We believe we see the AI improving greatly as the data grows, and hope you do too!

George, created by British programmer Rollo Carpenter as part of his Jabberwacky AI software, is constantly learning new language patterns and facts as he chats online at jabberwacky.com/chat-george, where he'll respond not merely to words but also to any of 69 specified emotions, from 'sarcastic' to 'worried'.

Now Carpenter's firm, Icogno, is working with Norwich-based InterMediaLab to turn George into a 'virtual human', using animation and speech synthesis to have ever more credible spoken conversations. "It's going to be possible to do a live interview with someone like George on television," says Tim Child, who runs InterMediaLab. "He's not ready yet for live TV, but it's close."

Full article in The Times: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20409-2068307,00.html