Can you enhance your avatar with artificial intelligence?

Okay, I suppose this one is for the libsl and the bot crowd, the really smart hacker types out there, and the lawyers.



Issue: I would sure like to have extended, specific estate manager functions 24/7.


1) I'd like to allow a specific group of people to be able to restart sims, eject griefers country-wide on a mini-continent, stuff like that.

I'd also like to let people take control of parcels if they have paid a certain estate parcel meter. This won't be totally automatic for lots with defaulted meters, say, but in the case of a clearly surrendered lot it could be.

Also, I'd like to allow other possible functions that only a sim owner can do. I want to grant a few very specific residents the ability to load a .raw file as needed to a private estate voidsim they control.

Lastly, this one is a bit fantasyland, but let's throw it out there. If anyone asks the avatar SL techie questions in plain text, perhaps it could look up the answers and respond verbally in a sane, readable manner.

Of course, the avatar would not be allowed to have any functions that would endanger current resident land or be used as an 'attack bot' by unauthorised people.


2) To the lawyer types out there: would any of the above break any rules?


* * * * *

This sort of stuff would allow me to offer better services for residents, and allow me to go on short vacations without a mountain of easily automated 'unfinished business' and so forth upon my return.

I left for 4 days recently and came back to a six hour session of 'stuff' that needed to be done - much of it could have been handled safely, automatically and *faster* if only there was a way. Instead, I ended up with a 48 hour headache.

This wouldn't be used for nefarious purposes. Only expanded, immediate, efficient estate services - good things for good people. A sort of always-there Jeeves standing by to help out citizens.

DesBot, anyone?

I'd love to know how possible this is, how expensive such a thing would be, and if there are any rules against it.

I have been thinking about such estate "chanserv" i think it's fairly doable to script something pretty flexible and powerful. You just have to be sure that it is properly secured again tampering from unauthorized persons.

Hi Des,

My partner at one point owned 15 islands; we went on vacation and left the entire shebang to our close friend, whom we made an Estate Manager. She was able to do all of your requested actions, and did it very nicely. Made going on holiday possible!

[Edit: I just realized that you wanted an alt to be able to do this... why don't you just hire a VP of Operations or something? Delegate!]

I do have friends helping - my estate manager slots are all full, in fact.

But wouldn't it be nice if all the boring stuff was just taken care of?

I really want to explore this option - 24/7 service with infinite patience and no bathroom breaks!

Anybody ever create a friendly bot like this? Is it hard, or expensive or allowed?

Desmond

Not sure if I'm missing something here, but... when I read your first post, I was "oo oo oo I want one of those!" ... and I only have the one sim (currently! - hurry up LL!)

But building on Oryx's point - and just scratching the surface here - at some point in whatever process, a decision needs to be made. The questions are around what information is needed to take that decision and how is it obtained/maintained/refreshed; what if any of it - no matter how trivial - is not available at the decision point; what review is required (the "oops" factor) after the decision; what does the decision mean for further decisions down the line.

Given that the subjects you raise will often require a "human" judgemental intervention, and that estate managers already have the functions you mention as part of their role, I'm just not clear how botting this area could add any real value. Showing my ignorance I guess!

Enlightenment please

Inc

I am pretty sure a good chunk of SL's users could use the extra boost.

*blinks*

15 islands?!

Yup.. he got fed up (same issues as Des... no personal time left over after dealing with island stuff all day) and sold 12 of them. Now he's wondering what to do with his time LOL.

*waves hand*

When you're done...can you whip up somma that for my RL?

*thinks of a 'bot that can hold, long, meaningful conversations with the GF..while he does important stuff...like post on the forums.*

Can we call it a Des-Bot?

It is hard to make one intelligent, especially with regards to being able to parse natural language chat.

It is not expensive in terms of resources, with the exception of the time spent during development by the programmer, which is negotiable I'm sure.

It should be allowed, I am not aware of anything that would prohibit such a bot.

.

I'm still having a GREAT time in SL! No 'fed upness' here. But, I've got a few ideas cooking and a few special issues.

Caledon may get an SL new user orientation and themed Welcome Area at some point. I could really use some 24/7 backup for such a project, especially in terms of basic Q and A.

People like to talk to people... failing that, NPC's, and then waaay down at the bottom of the list is the FAQ or manual. The expression "RTFM" comes from this natural aversion to getting information that way.

I'd LOVE to have a copy or two of myself with some basic Q and A AI, for this purpose, maybe even a 'talk you through it' guide. If anyone has helped their kids with Lego Mindstorms software, THAT is a prime example of how incredibly helpful a computer can be!


Enlightenment forthcoming:


Someone wants their partner to be able to set 'home' on a parcel and it's not working.

Alright.

You explain they need land deeded to a group, not just their own name. Takes three minutes, and they decide to create a group while you are standing there. They mess with the group controls, and after 10 minutes of standing (2 while they figure out controls, 8 while they decide on a group name) they finally make a group.

You've explained you can only deed as an officer or owner, but they invite you as a member. The deed fails. You explain this. They re-invite you as an officer. The re-invite fails, because you are still a member.

It's now 23 minutes since you started, and you are typing to them why you can't deed the lot because you didn't quit the group quickly enough.

You leave the group, and get re-invited back. Oops, as a member again. They apologise for being new, and you explain that it's okay. They try again, while typing in IM to their friend in the background.

32 minutes into it: Finally you get the right group and deed the land to the group. You ask them if they want you to stay in the group, so it doesn't expire. They ask what that means.

40 minute mark: You have explained that if their partner doesn't log in by the weekend, their group will expire unless you stay in it. You have established that yes, they want you to stay in it 'just in case' and not repeat this whole process over again.

You answer some other questions about groups and what can and can't be done with them, explain the difference between 'set' and 'deed' to group, and describe the issues with setting the media channel on the spot, simply because you are there now and everyone knows how busy you are.

- Problem of 'partner can set a home point' resolved, total time: 45 minutes.

- Further issues that have come up while taking care of this one: three.


It's not always this bad, but, it's common enough. It's not the resident's 'fault' either, it's just what has to happen. Though, sometimes "Rush over, wait for person to finish IM's with their friends after calling you" is also common.

Unless we have someone online 24/7, a bot would be a handy option for everybody, existing estate managers included.


Coders, webserver guys, what can be done and what's available now?

You forgot...

56 minutes into it and you stare longingly at the golden amber liquid in the bottle of bourbon just beyond your reach.

58 minutes into it and you have at least a half-dozen new pinhole burns on your shirt.

93 minutes into it and your shaking hands can only slap loosely at the keyboard while you giggle and mutter to yourself incoherently.

127 minutes into to and they find you...jerking and twitching beneath your desk, slapping at your knees with one hand and clicking an imaginary mouse-button with another...all while an endless string of "scuz me dewd lol.lol.lol." scrolls on and on and on and on above your quaking head.


So..yeah. Good luck with the bot.

Hey Des,

If you're getting an orientation island, you might try asking here for volunteers to help man the area... we couldn't obviously help with group stuff like mentioned above, but basic newbie questions (how do I walk?) we could do... I'd certainly be willing to pitch in a few hours a week.

That's a phenomenal offer! Certainly a small army of volunteers would sure help!

Might be a potential ethics issue though - unpaid volunteers getting people acclimated, only to see the new folks settle, get Caledon land and then spend a fortune in the shops of the Caledon merchant barons... I don't want to take advantage.

It's already bad enough that I have friends volunteering with estate management.

If there was a way I could make 'helping new users' a sort of casual, come-and-go-as-you-please occupation on the grid somehow, I'd do it. Hmmm....

I think I'd still want bots as a backup, just because there might be long spells when nobody is available.

An artificial intelligence bot is rather a tall order. There are some attempts on the web to have programs that converse with visitors, though I can't think of what the couple I've seen are called. Add simple avatar actions such as keeping the right social-spacial distance, and knowing to walk away when a conversation is done, or even knowing when a conversation is done (something I have trouble with myself!), and you have a complex program indeed.

I would say that it would probably be programmed in steps. Maybe the first step is already available- the greeter bot that some businesses employ. I suppose it could give out appropriate notecards in place of the usual freebie in a store.

Hm, maybe the first step would be to have a similar greeter robot offer an interactive help menu system rather than a simple gift or notecard. Maybe if it was entertaining enough, people wouldn't notice that they are being tricked into reading the manual in more detail than if the manual was just lying (or in current language, laying) around in inventory somewhere.

The novelty might wear off, though. Then it would be similarly irritating to a normal RL touch tone phone menu system.

Human interactions aren't reliably predictable and go off in all directions. I'd say it's hard to stuff all that into a workable set of algorithms. There are so many people who wish for a job in SL, maybe this would be a market that somewhat newcomers could handle.

-Forest, half asleep and rambling

Desmond


Thanks for the further explanation... sounds remarkably like some of the conversations I have too ... and on that limited basis I would guess there's a market out there for someone to supply. I'd buy one!

Detailing the specific requirements & decision trees is going to be not so much complex as time-consuming. If this gets picked up as a scripter's next work, a few of us should collaborate? - it spreads the workload, provides greater topic coverage and will have an inbuilt error checking mechanism.
Inc

I constatly have interactions with computers via voice when i call an airline... the conversations are pretty 'guided' but you can get good inforamtion this way... things like arrival times, departure times, etc..

Maybe if you can think of a very guided script this would not be too difficult...

Derbor

Yes! Exactly that kind of thing. Perhaps with actual functions as responses in some cases, such as 'deed the land if parcel meter paid'.

This should be very doable... I would be tempted to tackle it if I did not have a bunch of stuff in my 'to fo' list... But I am sure you know a good scripter that might take on the challenge.

Derbor

Why have avatars with artificial intelligence when you can have ones with real intelligence, like MEEEEEE!!!!!?