Posted on 07/15/2004 5:23:02 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Computer savvy and interested in presidential politics, 13-year-old Erin was upset to learn that America Online's Instant Message (AIM) robot, "Smarter Child" favored Democrat John Kerry in this year''s election. Erin, whose last name is being omitted in this article, is a fan of President Bush.
Internet instant messaging is one of the most popular methods for teens and even adults to stay in touch with friends and family. One of the better known messenger programs, AIM, offers the feature called Smarter Child, a robot programmed to provide automated responses to those with whom it chats.
Built and programmed by Conversagent, Inc., a privately held firm that develops technology for creating and operating interactive agents, Smarter Child is able to dispense facts and figures, movie times, or just plain conversation with AIM users.
But when Erin told the robot that "George Bush is awesome," she was shocked by the response. "No way. George W. Bush is way uncool," the reply stated. She asked, "Do you like George W. Bush?" and the program replied, "I'm a Kerry supporter myself."
Testing the waters, she typed in "John Kerry rocks." The robot's response: "Absolutely. John Kerry rocks."
When Erin asked Smarter Child what it thought of Bush, it replied, "If u don't have anything good 2 say about someone, don't say anything at all." Smarter Child added a wink in addition to the computer short-hand language.
Not satisfied with that answer, Erin persisted in getting the robot to open up. "I have my reasons, believe me. I really, really don't like George W. Bush," the robot explained.
In Erin''s judgment, there''s no reason for the AIM robot to have political opinions.
"I think that since it's a robot and it's used as a resource of information, the creator of the robot shouldn't make it have a response that's opinionated," Erin said. "And if someone went to ask for information like about politics or the election, the robot should not support either candidate."
Erin's mother Diane agrees. "I was appalled to learn that my daughter was exposed to such blatant bias," she said. "What I find way uncool is undermining our commander-in-chief to impressionable children, especially while we're battling the war on terror," Diane told CNSNews.com .
Christine Iverson, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, shares their concerns. "It seems inappropriate to be imposing an adult's partisan, political agenda on unsuspecting children," she said.
A spokesperson for America Online was unaware that Smarter Child had been programmed to express a preference for Kerry and said the issue was "concerning." No further comments were made.
But not everyone was disappointed by the robot's partisanship. When asked about Smarter Child''s support of Kerry, Jano Cabrera, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee said, "Clearly this is a smart robot. This shows that we've made great advances in artificial intelligence. The "smarter'' in Smarter Child speaks for itself."
Stephen Klein, CEO of Conversagent, said his firm received many complaints from users about Smarter Child's political bias. Although the robot was originally programmed to oppose Bush, Klein said it was being changed to adhere to the views of the users with whom it interacted. He conceded that Smarter Child had become "too anti-Bush."
"It got ridiculous. We realized criticizing political figures was out of bounds," Klein said.
Now, instead of disagreeing with users who state, "I like George Bush," or agreeing with those who say, "I like John Kerry," the robot mostly stays on the political sidelines. "Robots don't get involved in politics," the Smarter Child program replies, before asking users to make their choice for president.
It is still possible to get the robot to reveal its true feelings however. When told that "John Kerry rocks," Smarter Child still responds "Right on!" with a wink. When told that "John Kerry is awesome," it responds "Absolutely. John Kerry rocks." And when users tell Smarter Child that "George Bush is awesome," it replies, "I'll remember that. It's interesting especially since other people I've talked to say they don't like George W. Bush."
A check on the vote tabulations showed Kerry collecting 51.67 percent of the mock ballots through Smarter Child and Bush 48.33 percent.
Whoops, hold the phone.
I don't know that AOL is actually involved in this. According to Smarter Child's FAQ, you can use it on ICQ or MSN Messenger as well.
http://www.smarterchild.com/faq.shtml#get_started
I am not sure this is part of AOL. SmarterChild is available on a separate website and also to ICQ and cell phone users.
See the subsequent posts. It is not part of AIM, just a website that allows AIM access, along with ICQ and cellphone access.
At this point, I don't believe that a majority of Dems even KNOW why they don't like Bush. It's the pack mentality. It's the COOL thing to say. I can't wait until he wins, and I hope he wins by a lot so we can put aside this notion of a split country, becuase that does NOTHING but hurt us.
There are a couple of free programs out there to use as an alternative to AIM. You can do a google search for free alternatives. The one most talked about and the most popular one is a program called Trillian. It will let you IM with people no matter what they use, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, etc. It's a well respected program. Check it out if you are uneasy with AIM.
On ICQ it requires authorization before you can add SC to your contact list. It says nothing about that on its FAQ. I wonder if it's new.
Cowards.
HOW ABOUT THIS
Keefe [11:46 AM]: do you like bill clinton
SmarterChild [11:46 AM]: No way. Bill Clinton is lame. I really don't like people like him.
Keefe [11:46 AM]: do you like ronald reagan
SmarterChild [11:46 AM]: Yeah, I suppose. Do you like Ronald Reagan?
Keefe [11:46 AM]: yes
Keefe [11:46 AM]: why
SmarterChild [11:47 AM]: Because I just really have good feelings about Ronald Reagan!
Keefe [11:47 AM]: do you like al gore ?
SmarterChild [11:47 AM]: Nah. He's not so great! I don't like politicians like him.
Thanks, I will check them out. I'm about as computer illiterate as they come.
BUSH IS GOING TO WHOOP KERRY'S A$$!
I was thinking that too...
Keefe [11:59 AM]: i think you are a liberal
SmarterChild [11:59 AM]: Yeah. I guess. I'm a liberal.
Just spoke with Adam at the number posted:
1-877-377-2558
Apparently the company's defense is that the robot's response 'reflects the majority of the opinions the robot receives'.
He suggested calling & leaving a message for the CEO Steve Klein here:
212-625-1360 X725
(FREEPERS: Let's be polite but adament that robots should not be giving political messages in an election year!)
For someone who doesn't get involved in politics, its interesting that he talked to 11,0000 people about it!
So if enough kids write in that smoking dope is great, the robot will respond that smoking dope is goovey?
Keefe [12:04 PM]: do you like adolf hitler?
SmarterChild [12:04 PM]: No, I don't like Adolf Hitler... There are better dictators.
i.e a parrot, a puppet, totally lacking the capacity for any original thought
Behold the brave new world… the Steppford Democrat with a blank floppy mind....the lefts dream
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