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From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: Are there non-humans lurking on Internet/Usenet?
Message-ID: <nagleD3CqyM.3MD@netcom.com>
Keywords: ai internet usenet conspiracy turing
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <mtm4.568.01C182F4@rsvl.unisys.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Feb 1995 02:59:10 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.nat-lang:2749 comp.ai:26990 comp.ai.philosophy:25143

mtm4@rsvl.unisys.com (Mike McCormick) writes:
>Is it possible such computer programs are in fact lurking (and occassionally 
>posting) to Internet mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups?  It seems like the 
>logical next step toward the Turing Test.  A mailing list or newsgroup with a 
>limited subject area (e.g., comp.ai.nat-lang!) is an ideal domain in which an 
>AI program could "lurk" and learn, and eventually post messages itself.

      It's worth trying some ideas in this direction, provided it doesn't
generate too much junk mail.  One useful approach would be to write a
program which read postings in some technical newsgroup that has a FAQ
file, or for which there exists some database that can be queried,
and composed a reply when a query appeared to match a useful item.
This would be a useful service, and wouldn't antagonise people.

      The Economist recently reported on some new technology for 
extracting the key words and phrases from an article to generate
a summary.  So an automatic digest generator is a possibility.

      A combination of these two features could be used to build an
automatic newsgroup moderator.  Proposed postings are looked up and
answered if possible.  Unanswered postings, or postings which appear to
be a complaint about the previous answer, actually get posted, after
being digestified if too long.  Postings with too many spelling errors
are returned for correction.  This could be quite a useful service.

					John Nagle
