e-Cyc (http://www.e-Cyc.com) could be described as an advanced type of Internet search engine that’s being offered as a solution to the preponderance of time-consuming “false positives” and “false negatives” often produced in the process of browsing. e-Cyc raises the search engine to a higher degree of precision utilizing common sense and will include a meaningful display of subtopics.
Browsers themselves will also participate in building a virtual directory that will be plugged into Cyc. If browsers see something they don’t like (a false positive, for instance), they will have the option of clicking a “Teach Me” button on the screen. Once users clicks on it, they’ll be taken to a new page that will engage them in a dialogue (via clicking) that offers them the opportunity to explain to Cyc something that it doesn’t know about the world. Cyc will surf through this sea of information and chuck out stuff it doesn’t like or finds irrelevant. However, in many cases, the information will go directly into Cyc’s ever-expanding knowledge base.
A test site for e-Cyc is currently online (http://beta.hotbot.com). But when e-Cyc becomes fully operational in early January, a thermonuclear explosion in the amount of information being pumped into Cyc’s knowledge base is expected, with the result of Cyc becoming exponentially smarter and smarter. Anyone with Internet access can become a “blue-collar philosopher” and participate in programming “Cyc-at-Large.”
e-Cyc is the result of an exclusive deal with Lycos/HotBot (HotBot is a recent acquisition of Lycos). Although Cycorp has been profitable from its inception, and has received tens of millions of dollars in government grants each year of its existence, money coming in from e-Cyc will make it possible for Cycorp to launch a worldwide knowledge infrastructure.
Will e-Cyc help Cyc become smart enough to pass the proverbial Turing Test?
We shall see.
This article appears in December 24 • 1999.