WEEK 7 QUESTIONS

1) Check this link to my ‘intelligent’ cybertwin which I also mentioned in the Powerpoint. You may like to create your own cybertwin as well. The more you 'train' your twin, the better the responses will be. While it is just a fun exercise, Think of the opportunities. Imagine if we had a cybertwin that could answer your questions about the course. Or perhaps a shopping assistant?

Here is my conversation with Ian cybertwin…………..

You: Hi Ian, what are you up to?

Ian: Hello, just catching up on work are you?

You: Yea just doing some study, what about you?

Ian: Really Annette, you must articulate if you are going to become dastardly in any effective kind of way!

Ian: Have you thought about studying eBusiness?

You: I am, thats what made me come chat to you

Ian: What job do you se yourself doing in 10 years?

You: Director of my own company, yourself?

Ian: Did I tell you about my favorite dog? He can hold my attention longer than you.

You: haha! very funny

Ian: Oh, I want to call you 'mushbrain' now.

Ian: What are your hobbies?

You: Very sarcastic cyber twin you are!

Ian: How would you know?

You: Cos im reading your responses

Ian: I don't mind books as long as they are increasing my knowledge of playing dirty.

You: awkward.....cya


This is definatly fun to play with, and I wouldnt mind having a go at creating one myself. The concept is great, and if used on business website would need to be reguarly updated. A log of customer questions, formatting and jey words would need to be logged and recorded. New questions would need to be added to database and updated as new products or services are made available by business.

2) Write a one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room.

The Turing Test is a hypothetical test for determining whether or not a machine intelligence can converse like a human. The test is named after WWII-era computer genius Alan Turing, who made it up. The Turing Test is an anthropocentric test - that is, it doesn't test for intelligence in general, but merely the capacity to converse like a human being. The early, now refuted, implication was that the test measured objective intelligence. However, there could potentially be an Artificial Intelligence that merely doesn't speak human languages or understand human conversation. The Turing Test has three participants -- two subjects and a judge. One of the subjects is a person and the other is a computer. Both subjects are hidden from the view of the judge. They communicate with the judge via text-only channels. The role of the judge is to determine which text channel corresponds to the human and which corresponds to the computer. If the judge cannot determine this, then the computer passes the test.

The Chinese Room argument, devised by John Searle, is an argument against the possibility of true artificial intelligence. The argument centers on a thought experiment in which someone who knows only English sits alone in a room following English instructions for manipulating strings of Chinese characters, such that to those outside the room it appears as if someone in the room understands Chinese. The argument is intended to show that while suitably programmed computers may appear to converse in natural language, they are not capable of understanding language, even in principle. Searle argues that the thought experiment underscores the fact that computers merely use syntactic rules to manipulate symbol strings, but have no understanding of meaning or semantics. Searle's argument is a direct challenge to proponents of Artificial Intelligence, and the argument also has broad implications for functionalist and computational theories of meaning and of mind. As a result, there have been many critical replies to the argument.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chinese-room/
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-turing-test.htm

3) Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high-quality customer service over the Web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience. Write your answer on your blog page or express an opinion on this voice discussion board (it's simple to join). If you choose this option please link (live in an hour or so) to it from your blog page.

I think it can eventually deliver high quality customer service, especially when there are already online virtual agents on sites. They more act as a virtual FAQ then anything, looking for key words in your request or question and if they are not able to assist you then you will be directed to a hotline or email address.
I would never rule out any future development on the web, where we are today proves that technology can change drastically. There is a lot more work to be done in this area, but with businesses needing to continually cut costs, virtual agents will be the norm for businesses moving forward. Some people may question this, and like mobile phones, people may be hesitant in wanting to use them and would rather do things the old fashioned way and speak to a person. As always technology advancement always wins! Just like slowly phasing the home telephone out, customer call centers may be a service of the past.
Check out this website http://blog.intelliresponse.com/tag/virtual-agent/
This site advertises virtual agents and their positive attritubutes to enhancing any website. You can even try a demo out of a virtual agent.
You can you our demo here: http://www.intelliresponse.com/web-self-service-software/product-showcase.aspx

After trying it myself, I think just like Ian the cyber twin there is still work to be done, Not all questions can be answered, within reason and on topic of course. And the answers are generic, they looking for key words in your questions and suiting them to pre written responses. In the future, I believe we can become more advanced and really learn to personalise those responses. Just like when you call Vodaphone and you get a recoded voice over, you feel like you are talking to a robot, and fustration sets in. You do not want that with virtual agent. When you see the agent you connecting visually, but the responses can make or break the service being provided.

Then again, it will be all about what is best for the business and company at the end of the day. Just as Coles has re implemented its personalise service. Now having to walk customers to the items they cannot find on the shelf, instead of pointing them to an isle number. This 'old fashioned' approach can never fail when it comes to making a good customer service impression.