Now, Al web agents to give tips on how to join the army

Now, Al web agents to give tips on how to join the army
June 23, 2010
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These online persons can answer just about everything from opening a bank account to booking a flight


Sydney:


Artificially intelligent agents are deftly handling several routine customer relations jobs over the web.



These online persons can answer just about everything from opening a bank account to booking a flight or even joining the US military. For instance, the US army's sergeant Star can give you basic information about life in the service. It is based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology from US company Next IT.


The technology has also helped create artificial persons for Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines and many other websites, complete with names and faces.


"There's huge need for this, because as technology grows and becomes more and more complex with more and more information, there has to be a way to simplify that and make it more adaptable and more personalised," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Fred Brown, founder and chief executive of Next, as saying.


He added, "We are helping customers with complex products and technology and services, figuring out appropriate offers for up-selling and cross-selling."


Brown, however, does not expect artificial intelligent agents to replace human call-centre operators, even as he believes their presence would free humans to take on more interesting work.


He said, "I don't think computers have intuition or a soul. you can teach them to be polite and courteous but what about compassion and empathy? "And those things are very important to how you feel. Sometimes you just want to interact with another soul."


AI research is highly technical and specialised, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other. subfields have grown up around particular institutions, the work of individual researchers, the solution of specific problems, longstanding difference of opinion about how AI should be done and the application of widely differing tools. The problems of AI include traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.

The field of AI research was founded at the Dartmouth college in 1956. The attendees, including John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon, become leaders of AI research for many decades.


They along with students wrote programs while computers were solving word problems, proving the orems and speaking English.