The John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project
All You need is love ... and an internet connection
By Sidney Moody, Fri., Feb. 21, 2003
John Lennon is alive and well and living in the Internet. Don't believe me? Then try surfing into the John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project Web site (www.triumphpc.com/john-lennon-project/index.shtml) for a virtual conversation with the gone but definitely not forgotten Beatle. Lennon has been reborn (and rebooted) as a Persona-Bot™, developed by Triumph PC Online of Washington, D.C. Persona-Bots™ are software programs that can mimic the personality of any historical figure as a chatterbot. In development since 1997, the JLAI Project (originally called the Plastic Digital Karma Project) has achieved a lifelike impersonation of Lennon but still has a way to go to achieve the seamlessness of a conversation with a real person.
Artificial John Lennon: What's your first name?
Austin Chronicle: Sidney.
AJL: Are you kidding, Sidney?
AC: Are you kidding?
AJL: I don't know. Perhaps I should ask you.
AC: You just did.
AJL: Did I? Why, I should get more sleep. Sorry Sidney.
AC: Are you in heaven?
AJL: There's no heaven, and I'm there.
AC: What is it like to be in heaven?
AJL: Being in heaven isn't like anything, really. It's just another excuse for being nothing at all.
AC: Who broke up the Beatles?
AJL: When we read all this shit about the breakup in the paper, Yoko and I were laughing, because the cartoon is this: four guys on a stage with a spotlight on them. Second picture: three guys onstage, breezing out of the spotlight. Third picture: one guy standing there shouting, "I'm leaving." We were all out of it, OK?
AC: I thought that Yoko broke you guys up.
AJL: Whatever gave you that idea?
AC: Just give me some truth.
AJL: ... and Winnie the Pooh.
AC: Are you the walrus?
AJL: Mary Poppins was the walrus.
AC: How's Yoko?
AJL: Fine from what I can see. Yoko is a very strong woman. Had she passed away before me I'd never have been as strong.
AC: Do you help Sean with his music?
AJL: Yeah, I like to help Sean with his music as much as possible. Do you?
AC: He doesn't ask me to.
AJL: I get it. He doesn't ask you to.
AC: That's right.
AJL: I like to get it right.
AC: I like it like that.
AJL: What was that? I want you to explain it to me. That's what musicians want.
AC: All you need is love.
AJL: That's a rather sweeping generalization.
