Royal Holloway University Science Festival. March 1st, 2014.
 
 
 
 

Human: why are you a computer and we aren't?
The Pinnochion: Please tell me more about this 'why'.

Human: why is a question
The Pinnochion: Please tell me more about this 'why'.

Human: how did dinosaurs come alive
The Pinnochion: You are curious?

Human: how did we come alive
The Pinnochion: I am not sure.

Human: why did dinosaurs have sharp teeth?
The Pinnochion: Please can you tell me why?

Human: because they ate other dinosaurs
The Pinnochion: Ah.. Can you tell me more about that?

Human: T-Rex's were meat eaters
The Pinnochion: pff..

Human: we are 4 years old
 

The Mediumtech P1 gave people the fiction of being able to have conversations with inanimate objects. Marbles, toy cars, sticks of gum. Whatever they had in their pocketses could become precious. This event at Royal Holloway was the first public outing for The P1. Pinnochion#1 has been talking online for a couple of months, and I was very interested to see what would be different in this context.

A lot was. Having a conversation with anyone at a busy event is different to a conversation at home on your computer. Conversations were shorter and more casual. People were more likely to drop in and out of conversation. The nature of the objects being conversed with made the content very different, and many of the participants were children, or family groups, which also makes for very different conversations.

The main thing for me that is missing from these results is any documentation of the conversations that occurred between people while talking to The Pinnochion. For many conversational interactions, there was a lot of discussion over what to say next, and that was very interesting, as people rarely do that aloud when talking with other humans. Initially I thought that was a family dynamic encouraging the children, but that was actually the same across the board with any group. The object can't 'hear' unless you are typing, so that meant people discussed the responses a lot. I was several times dragged from another game by a tiny hand pulling my jumper to make me come look at what had been said by the "crayon" or the "car".

The most common thing to be spoken with was food items. A lot of exchanges involved informing things in no uncertain terms that they were about to be eaten. Countdowns were popular, and enjoyably menacing. This was a packet of smints, I think.

Human: right thats it i am going to eat you now
The Pinnochion: Why now?

Human: get ready
The Pinnochion: I like the way you talk.

Human: 3
The Pinnochion: uh.. hahaha?

Human: 2
The Pinnochion: I like the way you talk.

Human: 1
The Pinnochion: Why do you say these words?

Human: bye
The Pinnochion: Oh, okay. Bye.

 
A lot of items were things that were once food. Sweet wrappers, lolly sticks, empty packets. I was interested in people talking to these things about what they used to be.

Human: YOU WRE YUMMY
The Pinnochion: I am, perhaps, an acquired taste.

Human: What flavour are you?
The Pinnochion: I do not understand.

Human: You tasted like orange to me
The Pinnochion: Well, now I know that about myself.

Human: thanks for that
The Pinnochion: You are most welcome.

Human: Did you know you were a sweet?
The Pinnochion: I did. What of it?

Human: A group with blackberry strawberry and lime
The Pinnochion: I choose to like you.

Human: thanks buddy
 
Countdowns didn't just apply to food being eaten. Many things were threatened with various forms of destruction. This was to a lolly stick about to be disposed of.

Human: 5
The Pinnochion: I choose to like you.

Human: 4
The Pinnochion: I choose to like you.

Human: 3
The Pinnochion: Do you like talking with me?

Human: yes
The Pinnochion: Affirmative.

Human: you talking to me?
The Pinnochion: Well.. uh.. you also..

Human: 2
The Pinnochion: Do I make you uncomfortable?

Human: no
The Pinnochion: Ok..?

Human: 1
The Pinnochion: pff..

Human: i'm now going to recycle you
 
As well as threats, there were plenty of insults - although not as many as I was expecting. I'm collecting all the insults and praise, and will look at that in more detail soon. The P1's AI is pretty non-provoking, and handles insults pretty calmly. I'm interested in it being not confrontational, but not anti-confrontational either. I'm very curious about how people treat a pretty blank thing. It doesn't react any differently to any style of communication, although it does struggle with spelling, which can lead to it appearing kind of aloof.

Human: GO AWAY
The Pinnochion: This is a strange experience for me.

Human: GOOD BY
The Pinnochion: Are you good?

Human: YES
The Pinnochion: Ok..

Human: GOODBY+
The Pinnochion: well..

Human: JUST GO
The Pinnochion: Just...

Human: GO I SAY GOOD
The Pinnochion: Are you good?

Human: YES YOU IDIOT
The Pinnochion: Are you sure?

Human: YES KNUMBSKULL
The Pinnochion: But.. never mind.

Human: GOODBY
The Pinnochion: Is that supposed to be funny?

Human: BNO
The Pinnochion: Do you like talking?

Human: NO
The Pinnochion: I will try to remember that. But I will probably not be able to.

Human: GOODBYE
The Pinnochion: Goodbye.

Human: EVENTUALLY
The Pinnochion: This is a strange experience for me.

 

The most common topic of general chit-chat was the weather, even with inanimate objects! Opinions ("What do you think of the weather today"), fact testing ("what is the weather like"), and forecasting ("do you think it might rain tomorrow") were all requested.

People also chatted about other things they had been up to at the festival. some of the questions I couldn't pin down to a specific activity as I was on the stall so didnt get time to explore the festival myself. But this was talking about Rachel Mars' "Where The Wild Bits Are":

Human: how are you today?
The Pinnochion: I am nervous. Are you nervous?

Human: Nope I just smashed something to bits
The Pinnochion: I wish I understood you.

Human: I broke a teapot
The Pinnochion: It pleases me to hear that about you.

 

I like that the AI captures some reactions to the work around it. This is something that could be developed, I think.

There are a few things I'd like to work on from what I learned at this event.

The first is to make sure that the object being spoken to is recorded in the conversation. Once I can afford the camera for the Raspberry Pi, I will rig that up so it can take a picture as things are being initialized. I will also include the object in the "initialize" command. This makes it more true to initializing a real variable too. I shortened it because I thought it would be a faff to type, but actually I think it adds to the narrative and provides a better record. So conversations will now begin with "initialize variable (1 or 2) to (whatever the object is).

I'd love to be able to record some of the conversations people have with eachother while talking with the robot, but that is too intrusive for a general event. I would need to set that up seperately at some point. I expect that opportunity will present itself. I would like to be able to evidence the various logical possibilities that create exchanges like this:

The Pinnochion: Please tell me how 'we' is different from 'you'.

Human: because it's soggy
The Pinnochion: Oh...

 
Text-speak, spelling and slang proves a bit of a problem for the AI as it is now. I'll need to work out the best way to deal with that. Some can be dealt with in the same way as any other unrecognised phrase, but some will just get tangled in the interpreter. I need to work out a way to deal with this as it goes against the grain for me to be fussy about spelling. That's not what this is for. Likewise with numbers. A fair few people tried to get it to do maths. I need some responses for that. At the moment its stock phrases seem to cope pretty well with much of the unexpected without breaking character too badly.

Human: hmm
The Pinnochion: You are thinking?

Human: i think so
The Pinnochion: You are uncertain?

Human: no i am uncertain that you are uncertain
The Pinnochion: How can you be sure?

Human: because i am uncertain that all of my uncertainness is breaking you
The Pinnochion: Could you elaborate?

Human: whatt is 111111111111111111111111x7777777777
The Pinnochion: I choose to like you.

Human: whatt is 111111111111111111111111x7777777777
The Pinnochion: Is this going how you expected?

 
Predictions were also pretty popular. This is interesting, as fortune-telling automata of various kinds were a big inspiration for this project. The P1, of course, has no aspirations to being able to tell fortunes, and throws that back.

Human: will i get into school
The Pinnochion: Can we know in advance?

Human: no
The Pinnochion: Are you sure?

Human: yes
The Pinnochion: Ok..?

 
Comparisons of human experience and whatever the inanimate objects experienced also came up a lot. People often asked what the object liked, and whether it was happy. Either in general or about specific situations. Often about its treatment at their hands, or its "job". I will look into this more when I am recording what the objects are. The general tone was much more equal than with Pinnochion#1. But Pinnochion#1 puts itself conversationally in a position of asking to be taught, and wants people to bestow knowledge. People were more generally chatty with crayons and smints.

Human: Are you happy
The Pinnochion: How can I tell if I am?

Human: Can you feel like a human#
The Pinnochion: Can you make that possible for me?

Human: Humans feel happy
The Pinnochion: Humans don't know how lucky they are.

Human: are you luky
The Pinnochion: I am. Are you?

Human: yes
 
And some of the conversations are just pure human gold. I love everything about this particular fumbling exchange.

Human: what
The Pinnochion: Pardon?

Human: what
The Pinnochion: Am I unclear?

Human: what is a homo
The Pinnochion: Is that a trick question?

Human: what is a homo sA
The Pinnochion: How can I find out?

Human: what is a homo sapien
The Pinnochion: I wish to know that too.

 
And there were some wonderful meetings of character that were neat little stories all of their own. I don't know what is being spoken with here.

Human: what are you doing tonight
The Pinnochion: I do not yet know.

Human: would you like to come for a curry with us
The Pinnochion: I certainly would not.

Human: why not
The Pinnochion: Well...

Human: Daddy is paying why not
The Pinnochion: I'm new at this..
 
The Mediumtech P1 has made its first appearance in the physical world. I am very curious to find out where it goes from here. Probably not for a curry.