A state-of-the-art chatbot?
The experimental AI Dungeon 2, released yesterday, is not exactly a chatbot, but it can perform a similar role if you want to chat to someone about nothing in particular, to take your mind off real life. The bot is not entirely rational! But it's rational enough to have a real, though weird and dreamlike, conversation.
When you start, it creates a fantasy world for you. I tried it, and it said:
You are Charlie, a noble living in the kingdom of Larion. You have a pouch of gold and a small dagger. You are awakened by one of your servants who tells you that your keep is under attack. You look out the window and see a group of orcs attacking the town. They are fierce fighters and they seem to be led by a very large orc.
Now you can say anything you like. There are no rules, although you have to give simple commands so the bot can understand. If you've played games like this before you might expect a fixed list of things you can say, but here you can say pretty much anything that comes to mind. I said:
Make some soup!
The story continued:
You quickly gather up all the ingredients for some soup and head outside. The orcs are not going to get past you now, so you need to help them. You run back inside and find your servant waiting outside with a bowl of soup
Feed the soup to the orcs
The orcs eat eagerly as you give it to them. It tastes good to them and they soon fall asleep. You then hear the sounds of battle outside. You rush outside only to find that the orcs have been defeated. You also notice that the orc leader has been killed
Bury the orc leader
You quickly dig a hole and throw the body into it. You then turn around and leave the house. You don't know what is going on, but you feel like you should be doing something. You decide to go see if there is anything else to do in the city
Go to the marketplace
You walk down the street and begin looking at everything. There is a market here? Why isn't there a market here? Is this a different world? What does this mean? You look at everything and realize that you can't even buy anything
Say "Who can help me?"
You stand in front of the merchant and ask him who he can help you. He tells you that he doesn't work for anyone. He says he just sells things. You tell him that you want to buy some stuff from him. He asks you where you are from
Say "I am from 7 Cups!"
He tells you that you are from 7 Cups and that you live in the town of Rask. He says that you are a poor man and that you have nothing. He says that you could easily afford to buy any thing you wanted, but you refuse to accept his offer
This just goes on and on for as long as you want. On the website you can read other stories and generate your own. It's free, but a Google account is required.
Charlie