To start off the new year with my first of many more posts, I have decided to discuss the social search and artificial intelligence project I have been finishing up on during the holidays...

I have completed the first version of Madhatter, a VB.Net implementation of an AIML interpreter. I have integrated it with DotNetNuke, Twitter, I’m Vivo!, and Bing. Here is the high level overview of how it works:

Any user can send a Twitter message to @vivochat. VivoChat will respond. For example, take a look at the following:

As you can see, I sent VivoChat a message, “Happy New Year!”, in which it responded, “Happy New Year! I hope this year brings you growth and prosperity.” This is an example of the AIML or Artificial Intelligence being used.

Here is an example of a search:

Noodlebar was looking for “Raleigh imax avatar showtimes”. Now VivoChat is not tied into movie databases…. yet. But, it responded with a phone number and link to the iMax here in Raleigh.

Now take a look at the following results:

In this case, Noodlebar sent @vivochat a message “bugaboo meaning”. VivoChat responded with a definition and a link to the source. VivoChat also responded with links to comment, rate, share, and/or vote on the result on I’m Vivo!. Also, noodlebar is given a link to edit the result, because this item was aggregated from Bing and not submitted nor reviewed by a real “human”.

Simply by sending a message to VivoChat, noodlebar, aka James Wallace, as earned an additional 10 Karma Points on I’m Vivo!. If he comments, votes, rates, or edits the item, he will receive additional points.

Using the power of the masses, as in YOU, DotNetNuke, Twitter, I’m Vivo!, and Bing, we have the ability to affect search results of this “bot”. By bookmarking, commenting, rating, sharing, and voting, the “rank” of the result increases/decreases. Combining this “social search” with artificial intelligence, WE can make this bot learn more about what US humans are interested in. The answers and responses of VivoChat are governed by the people... socially.

As a test of this technology, I will be announcing in the next few days, a contest using the karma points I mentioned earlier. The person with the most karma points for the week will win.

If you have any questions or would like to leave feedback, please comment below… you will get more points for it ;-)

Oh, and Happy New Year!