If a boring old browser can have character, why can’t bots?

I like many have been trying out Google Chrome and came across an error today. However it wasn’t like any error I had gotten in a long time.

Now that’s character. Which got me thinking, if Google can give a boring piece of software like a browser some character why can’t virtual world bots exhibit some character?

Call them intelligent virtual agents or bots, in virtual worlds they have all the capabilities to come alive. To be more than just an annoying paperclip office assistant. Given physical bodies through avatars, intelligence through AI – these bots seem real enough that some mistake them for real people at first. But it certainly doesn’t take long to see past the veneer. The repetitive nature of the conversation. Some doubt these bots will ever be capable of rewarding human interaction.

Of course I’ve had repetitive conversations with real users in Second Life that weren’t rewarding. But even these interactions have something these bots lack – character. If you engage with anyone for long enough their character will come through. Spend an equal amount of time interacting with a bot and what comes through is the fact that they’re a bot.

James Au asks - How Intelligent Have Second Life AIs Become? Yet I don’t think it’s an issue of intelligence that needs to be overcome, it’s a problem of character. We need to learn how to put the kind of character Google weaved into Chrome and put it into a bot.