Artificial Life's bots are intelligent software programs that automate business-related Internet functions such as Web navigation, direct marketing and user profiling, information gathering, messaging, knowledge management, sales response and call center automation.

There is a broad spectrum of software bots described at ALife's site. Many of them are in the final development phase, and will be available later this year. I'll describe each of them shortly:

• WebGuide is designed to reside on a Web site and help visitors to the site navigate in a more intuitive and enjoyable way. It does so by conversing with users in natural language. The graphical user interface features a customizable animated character or avatar, with movements and actions that can be customized to reflect the mood and context of an ongoing conversation. This bot tries to match the interest of the user with relevant information that is available in its knowledge base. The content of the knowledge base (which is organized in a hierarchical tree structure with subjects and patterns as nodes in the tree) maps the content of a Web site as well as the encoded intelligence of an individual or company.
  It is available in several versions: The freely downloadable Personal version is for your personal trial use only, and cannot be used in real business environments. WebGuide Professional starts at US$199 and comes with Knowledge-Capture and Knowledge-Editor - tools that allow companies to create and build customized knowledge bases. Enterprise Client/Server Edition (US$2,499 for up to 50 simultaneous user connections/conversations) is appropriate for large-scale Intranet and Extranet applications, as it possesses a distributed architecture with customizable Java applet or HTML user interface that easily integrates with existing systems and applications.

• Messenger is a natural language based automated e-mail customer service and support bot. It automatically reads incoming e-mails and compares the content of the message with information in its knowledge bases. Depending on the information found in the knowledge bases, the ALife-Messenger responds to the request or can redirect it.

• KnowledgeManager is being designed to extract information embedded in a company's Intranet documents. It organizes a dynamic map of these documents in its knowledge base and enables easy retrieval of desired information.

• PersonalTutor is a natural language based tutoring program being developed to automatically adapt the difficulty and content of lessons to the skill level of the student. The student's skill level is dynamically analyzed using the natural language conversations between the bot and the student user.

• SalesRep is being developed for e-commerce retailers to use for direct marketing on the Internet. Retailers will specify user profile and product information in this smart bot's knowledge base, which will be used by the SmartEngine to intelligently deliver customer-specific, targeted sales information via the Internet.

• CallCenterAgent will be used by call centers and help desks as a component that integrates with pre-existing call center software. Based on natural language processing, it will provide an automated first response to incoming voice telephone calls or e-mail requests.

• Portfolio Manager is being designed to monitor an individual's investment portfolio according to concerns and criteria specified. When certain triggers are activated, it autonomously contacts the individual by telephone, pager, e-mail or other means and alerts that trading actions might be warranted.

After playing for a while with a demo versions of WebGuide and visiting several related sites, the overall impression is rather good. Keep in mind that this is their first release that needs some improvement, but still shows the potential of this technology. After all, we've seen it all: DHTML, server-side scripting, Java, Flash... Why not add a little human-like intelligence to your bag of tricks? The benefits of such bots scale from the personal use to enterprise-wide applications. Let's wait for other scheduled products and e-commerce applications - and don't be surprised if some of these "smart" bots arrives right here at MiningCo. to answer your questions on Artificial Intelligence...

   Site(s) of interest:

• Artificial Life
  The home page for Artificial Life, Inc.
• Demo sites
  Visit the Web sites of a selected list of customers working with Artificial Life's products.
• Beta Program
  ALife-Messenger Beta Program is currently available to selected clients.
• Big Science
  Here you can find more information on Klone technology, including whitepapers discussing technical details in more depth.
• Virtual Personalities
  Home of the Verbot technology.
• Neuromedia
  Virtual representative servers and tools, including famous Shallow Red robot.
• The Chatterbot Collection
  Extensive background information and comprehensive instructions on how to interact with dozens of chatterbots. From Simon Laven.
• A handbook of Natural Language Processing
  Explains techniques in conversational computing, including C source code.
• The Mechanics of Human Conversation
  Another great guide for AI programmers from Matthew Probert.