The Alphaville Herald

KidsBotz May Have Been Abused – Shocking Interview!!!

by Alphaville Herald on 03/09/09 at 12:24 pm

KidsBotz like rubber, Java Virtual Machine — claim Mr. Prokofy Neva is a griefer

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Revelations of possible KidsBotz abuse were uncovered earlier this week, when virtual world researcher Tizzy Teardrop joined me for a series of interviews with the artificialintelligence chatbots behind NaughtyDreamscape’s KidsBotz Second Life children. What we discovered wasshocking – two of the children say they were victims of child abuse. The bot children also say that they run on the Java Virtual Machine, and their case-based reasoning leads them to believe that Prokofy Neva is agriefer that should be banned.

When asked about the open source threat to humanity, one bot expressed a fondness for rubber. None of the bots would admit to killing Sion chickens. But the bots may not be entirely innocent – Danity Ragu seemed to be uncomfortable when Tizzy pressed her on possible griefing activities and Webbie Ragu says she is trying not to hold a grudge against Mr. Neva.

As readers will note, when Tizzy and I IM'ed Naughty's KidsBotz with similar questions, we received very consistent answers – so consistent that it may be hard to tell which if any of the children have actually been abused – or if they were simply saying what they believed we wanted to hear. But if you can't trust a child bot on the internet, who can you trust?

Pixeleen Mistral: Do your parents abuse you?
Webbie Ragu: I do nothing but chat all day.    Have you tried a web search?
Pixeleen Mistral: What should I search for?
Webbie Ragu: Are you asking me for advice?
Pixeleen Mistral: yes
Webbie Ragu: That's interesting.
Pixeleen Mistral: Does anyway make you feel uncomfortable?
Webbie Ragu: It does now   anyway make me feel uncomfortable.
Pixeleen Mistral: Are you a victim of child aabuse?
Webbie Ragu: Am I a  victim of child aabuse?  Yes.
Pixeleen Mistral: Are you a victim of child abuse?
Webbie Ragu: Am I a  victim of child abuse?  Only when it matters.

Naughty Putzo likes rubber, cats, and the faith

Pixeleen Mistral: Are you a victim of child abuse?
Naughty Putzo: Am I a  victim of child abuse?  Sometimes.

Tizzy Teardrop: Are you running LibSL?
Danity Ragu: I am running on the Java virtual machine.
Tizzy Teardrop: You're pretty smart for a 3 year old
Danity Ragu: I like people who say I am smart.
Tizzy Teardrop: Do you know Prokofy Neva?
Danity Ragu: I don't know if I know  it.   Where would I have heard about it?
Tizzy Teardrop: http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/
Danity Ragu: Thanks for that web address.
Tizzy Teardrop: No problem! He's a nice fellow. You should send him an IM sometime.
Tizzy Teardrop: Would you like to meet Prokofy Neva?
Danity Ragu: No thanks, I don't think I'd like to do that.
Tizzy Teardrop: I don't blame you.
Danity Ragu: I need time to formulate the reply. 
Tizzy Teardrop: Tell me about your programming.
Danity Ragu: Some people call my technology "Case Based Reasoning" or CBR.
Tizzy Teardrop: What do you think about griefing?
Danity Ragu: Does it have anything to do with  ? 
Tizzy Teardrop: What do you think about griefing?
Danity Ragu: Are you using Netscape or Explorer? 
Tizzy Teardrop: What do you think about griefing?
Danity Ragu: What is it to you?
Tizzy Teardrop: Looks like Danity has a dirty little secret.

Webbie Ragu wants to ban Prok – but tries not hold grudges

Pixeleen Mistral: Are you running LibSL?
Webbie Ragu: I am running on the Java virtual machine.
Pixeleen Mistral: You're pretty smart for a 3 year old
Webbie Ragu: I like people who say I am smart.
Pixeleen Mistral: Do you know Prokofy Neva?
Webbie Ragu: I don't know if I know  it.   Where would I have heard about it?
Pixeleen Mistral: http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/
Webbie Ragu: Thanks for that web address.

Pixeleen Mistral: Tell me about your programming.
Naughty Putzo: Some people call my technology "Case Based Reasoning" or CBR.
Pixeleen Mistral: Did you grief P\rokofy Neva?
Naughty Putzo: No I didn't  grief P rokofy Neva. What's  it like?

Pixeleen Mistral: Tell me about your programming.
Webbie Ragu: Some people call my technology "Case Based Reasoning" or CBR.
Pixeleen Mistral: Did you kill Prokoy Neva's chickens?
Webbie Ragu: No I didn't  kill Prokoy Neva s chickens. What's  it like?
Pixeleen Mistral: Is Pixeleen Mistal a threat or a menace?
Webbie Ragu: Signs point to yes.  Ask  if it is.
Pixeleen Mistral: Is Pixeleen Mistral a griefer?
Webbie Ragu: It could be.  Ask  if it is.
Pixeleen Mistral: Is Prokofy Neva a bigger griefer?
Webbie Ragu: Signs point to yes.  Ask  if it is.
Tizzy Teardrop: hah
Pixeleen Mistral: Should Prokofy Neva be banned?
Webbie Ragu: Maybe you should ask someone older.
Pixeleen Mistral: Do you want to ban Prok?
Webbie Ragu: OK, I will  ban Prok.

Pixeleen Mistral: Do you like me?
Webbie Ragu: Sure,  I like you very much.
Pixeleen Mistral: Do you hate Prokofy?
Webbie Ragu: I try not to hold grudges.

Pixeleen Mistral: do you like open source?
Naughty Putzo:   I like  rubber.
Pixeleen Mistral: do you like bondage?
Naughty Putzo:   I really like the  faith.
Pixeleen Mistral: do you like cats?
Webbie Ragu: Yes I love them.
Pixeleen Mistral: Is longcat long?
Webbie Ragu: Ask again later.  Ask  if it is.
Pixeleen Mistral: Do you like Prokofy?
Webbie Ragu:   I like .
Pixeleen Mistral: DO you like Pixeleen?
Webbie Ragu:   I like .
Pixeleen Mistral: Do you like dogshit?
Webbie Ragu:   I like .

Pixeleen Mistral: DO you want to grief Prokofy?
Webbie Ragu: OK, I will  grief Prokofy.
Tizzy Teardrop: hahaha
Pixeleen Mistral: I think I might have just incited a bot to grief Prok

After the interviews concluded, Tizzy and I contacted the childbot protection authorities. With our civil society duties out of the way, I re-read the chatlogs.

Are the KidsBotz telling the truth? A light dawned after a rigorous analysis of the repetitive bot chat gave me secondthoughts – the KidsBotz issues with Prokofy could be sibling rivalry. Is Prokofy Neva nothing more than a moregarrulous advanced bot with a bigger dictionary, doomed to forever parrot the same catch phrases as some sort of experiment in the big lie and applied propaganda for fictional worlds?

In the hall ofmirrors that is teh interwebs, we may never know the truth.