Knowledge Engineers needed for Bot Asylum
by Steven Fletcher · in Jobs · 10/13/2004 (6:44 am) · 0 replies
Bot Asylum is a chatbot program at www.fletchergames.com. It's set up in the same style as a Q&A site, but the answers are made by a computer program.
Bot Asylum has the same problem as any chatbot program. It can't respond to things unless they have been scripted beforehand. There's no learning algorithm because learning algorithms don't work when there's no way for the program to get feedback.
I'm working on ways to make the scripting faster and more effective (planned: "wildcard" categories, madlib responses, possibly using neural nets instead of FSMs), but programming isn't my problem. I can handle that myself. Unfortunately, I have no sense of humor, and I'm very bad at talking to people. Hence, I'm not good at setting what responses the chatbots will make.
I need "knowledge engineers" to script the responses. I would rather have a large group of people each of whom is willing to put in 10 or so hours of work per week than a few people willing to work their butts off. I have a job and other projects I want to work on, so I can't spend a million hours a week on Bot Asylum. I expect most people are in a similar situation.
Since Bot Asylum is a free program, there is no pay for being a knowledge engineer. There will, however, be some sort of credits listing.
This job actually consists of a number of components, and you'll sort of work your way up from the most boring to the least boring. I'll list several possible tasks below (most boring first):
1. Defining noun categories. A "category" is a list of objects that are related in some way. So I have things like the "mammal" and "reptile" categories that list all mammals/reptiles, and both are, in turn, a part of the "animal" category. Having categories enables scripters to script responses to a whole list of similar inputs at once, and this feature will become even better when wildcard categories and madlib responses are defined.
2. Defining other categories. Other categories are a bit more complicated than noun categories because they how they are used must be kept in mind. These categories are in a state of flux right now, and I'm unsure exactly how things will fall out in the end.
3. Neil's definition responses. Neil (a "computer" chatbot) defines things when people ask him to. This involves setting up actual responses, but the responses are easy to set up. Just get out a dictionary or something and go through the list. Each response should be funny.
4. Larry-Bob jokes. Larry randomly tells a joke, and Bob says the punchline. They're kind of like Beavis and Butthead. These responses are easy too, but they require making multi-statement conversations, which can be confusing at times.
5. Other responses. You pick some topic you know alot about and write responses for questions people ask about that topic. At times, you will be asked to write responses for some specific inputs that aren't in your topic simply because SOMEONE has to write the responses.
To start working on this, email me at fletchergames@planet-save.com. There's no help wanted ad yet - I'm a big fan of the movement not to post help wanted ads until I've tried everything else to recruit people.
Bot Asylum has the same problem as any chatbot program. It can't respond to things unless they have been scripted beforehand. There's no learning algorithm because learning algorithms don't work when there's no way for the program to get feedback.
I'm working on ways to make the scripting faster and more effective (planned: "wildcard" categories, madlib responses, possibly using neural nets instead of FSMs), but programming isn't my problem. I can handle that myself. Unfortunately, I have no sense of humor, and I'm very bad at talking to people. Hence, I'm not good at setting what responses the chatbots will make.
I need "knowledge engineers" to script the responses. I would rather have a large group of people each of whom is willing to put in 10 or so hours of work per week than a few people willing to work their butts off. I have a job and other projects I want to work on, so I can't spend a million hours a week on Bot Asylum. I expect most people are in a similar situation.
Since Bot Asylum is a free program, there is no pay for being a knowledge engineer. There will, however, be some sort of credits listing.
This job actually consists of a number of components, and you'll sort of work your way up from the most boring to the least boring. I'll list several possible tasks below (most boring first):
1. Defining noun categories. A "category" is a list of objects that are related in some way. So I have things like the "mammal" and "reptile" categories that list all mammals/reptiles, and both are, in turn, a part of the "animal" category. Having categories enables scripters to script responses to a whole list of similar inputs at once, and this feature will become even better when wildcard categories and madlib responses are defined.
2. Defining other categories. Other categories are a bit more complicated than noun categories because they how they are used must be kept in mind. These categories are in a state of flux right now, and I'm unsure exactly how things will fall out in the end.
3. Neil's definition responses. Neil (a "computer" chatbot) defines things when people ask him to. This involves setting up actual responses, but the responses are easy to set up. Just get out a dictionary or something and go through the list. Each response should be funny.
4. Larry-Bob jokes. Larry randomly tells a joke, and Bob says the punchline. They're kind of like Beavis and Butthead. These responses are easy too, but they require making multi-statement conversations, which can be confusing at times.
5. Other responses. You pick some topic you know alot about and write responses for questions people ask about that topic. At times, you will be asked to write responses for some specific inputs that aren't in your topic simply because SOMEONE has to write the responses.
To start working on this, email me at fletchergames@planet-save.com. There's no help wanted ad yet - I'm a big fan of the movement not to post help wanted ads until I've tried everything else to recruit people.
