A.I.  by Grandpa Chuck

Perhaps you have seen the movies “I, Robot”, “A.I.”, or "Bicentennial Man".  If you’re old enough you might even remember “Robby” in the TV program "Lost In Space".  In these movies as well as on TV the Artificial Intelligence displayed  by the  robots are far ahead of today’s robotic development. 

Speaking of Robots, one thing you can be sure of is that when the  subject comes  up you often hear them talk of Asimov’s Three Laws Of Robotics. 

1.  A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2.  A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3.  A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

I don't believe we have to worry too much about Asimov's Three Laws Of Robotics yet as the closest thing we have any robots around the house is the little Roomba floor vacuum robot or the little Robot Dogs that were the rage last Christmas.

In the area of Artificial Intelligence with computers, progress is slowly being made.  A leader in the field is Dr. Richard Wallace at A.L.I.C.E., Artificial Intelligence Foundation.  Dr. Wallace's website offers an example of a workable Chat Robot with his award winning Alice chatter bot.  You can chat with Alice by visiting the foundation’s web site.  A second example of a chatter bot with voice capabilities and animation is Lauren.  A third example of a chatter bot with text replies only is my own Grandma Elaine.

If you visit even one of these chatter bots you will soon see that although  Artificial Intelligence on the Internet and in home computers has come a long way from the original Eliza but it still has a long way to go to be practical our everyday life.