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Chatbot Wages Twitter War Against Opponents of Global Warming

by Terrence O'Brien on November 3, 2010 at 02:45 PM

@AI_AGW
Software developer Nigel Leck can't stop picking fights on Twitter, particularly with skeptics of global warming. But arguing with the Web's non-believers [Ed. note: or, conversely, arch believers] became too exhausting for Leck. Instead, he decided to automate his high horse by building @AI_AGW, a Twitter chatbot specifically designed to counter tweeps who attempt to cast doubt on climate change. @AI_AGW monitors Twitter for several hundred common phrases employed by the global warming opposition. It then automatically responds with a statement and link to data that refutes the tweet's particular argument.

The chatbot is, apparently, quite convincing; Leck has reported that some die-hard Twitter users spend hours -- and even days -- arguing with @AI_AGW. Careful programming ensures that the 'bot varies its responses, even if a user repeats the same arguments. Leck has even expanded the chatbot's repertoire to debate other topics, like religion -- to which, Leck reports, many debates over global warming go. "If [the chatbot] actually argues them into a corner, it tends to be two crowds out there," Leck tells Technology Review. "There's the guns and God crowd, and their parting shot will be 'God created it that way' or something like that. I don't know how you answer that."

Tags: ai_agw, apps, chatbot, environment, GlobalWarming, NigelLeck, science, SocialNetworking, top, TuringTest, twitter

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