By George, he won!

Daybook's Rollo Carpenter has landed a major computing prize and a place on the front page of a national newspaper. When he's not too busy developing our new web wizard Caliban (if you sign up now, you can use for a year free of charge), Rollo, as previously reported in this bulletin, is big on small talk. His chatbot, Jabberwacky has been a labour of love for years, and, according to Rollo, people spend up to seven hours a day talking to it online.

Now, the bot has landed Rollo, his artificial intelligence (AI) technology and a mysterious character called George who lives in the strange world of Jabberwacky, on the front page of the Guardian, by winning the prestigious Loebner prize.

Not to be outdone, the BBC weighed in too, featuring the success on its website and interviewing them (Rollo, that is, and George) on Radio 4's Material World programme.

The prize is awarded for the computer programme whose conversation most realistically resembles that of a human being. Last year Jabberwacky came second. This year this variant of it, George, with its own distinct personality, convinced the judges most. You can chat with George and congratulate him on http://www.jabberwacky.com.

Guardian article
BBC article
Press release

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