Talk:SmarterChild

This article was nominated for deletion on 1 February 2010. The result of the discussion was keep.

This page is not a forum for general discussion about SmarterChild. Any such comments may be removed or refactored. Please limit discussion to improvement of this article. You may wish to ask factual questions about SmarterChild at the Reference desk.

This article is rated Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Microsoft Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Microsoft, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles relating to Microsoft on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MicrosoftWikipedia:WikiProject MicrosoftTemplate:WikiProject MicrosoftMicrosoft articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Linguistics: Applied Linguistics

	Linguistics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Linguistics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of linguistics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LinguisticsWikipedia:WikiProject LinguisticsTemplate:WikiProject LinguisticsLinguistics articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Applied Linguistics Task Force.
	This article has been automatically rated by a bot or other tool because one or more other projects use this class. Please ensure the assessment is correct before removing the `\|auto=` parameter.

Headline text

Why did somone remove the image of smarterchild? There was absolutely no reason to. I'm going to put it back. Smarter Child is a fully interactive cyber robot you can talk to and play lots of fun games with! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.225.57.164 (talk) 19:51, 4 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi im new but i had saw a video of this smartchild app so i went on it but probably no one will see this but it's 2023 so yeah, people rather be on tic tok and snapchat bit it's cool

! 23.91.202.137 (talk) 22:28, 4 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

SmarterChild was wonderful and I miss him.

Launch dates

I'm surprised nothing was mentioned about how SmarterChild had been discontinued and then re-appeared, or even anything about its first "life". I added this info:

The SmarterChild bot was initially introduced to AOL Instant Messenger by ActiveBuddy in early 2001, but after a while, was turned into a premium, $9.95/month service -- a move which perturbed many IM users. but it didn't work, ater the business plan tanked, SmarterChild went completely offline for several months. This did not garner much attention from the instant messaging community, because non-subscribers had already lost access to the bot long before. It was ultimately re-designed and introduced to the public for free once again in April 2003, and has remained free since. When asked for its age, SmarterChild counts only the time since its second launch in 2003. Long live SmarterChild!

Czj 21:17, 5 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

List of Words SmarterChild won't respond to

I think it would be interesting to compile a list of words or phrases that SmarterChild will not respond to. The only two I know of are most phrases containing the word "suicide" or "I'm going to kill myself." I don't really have any proof of this or any reference to add, so I'll let someone else do it. Just an idea, though. Tnek46 16:50, 25 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

- He also does not respond to the phrase 'you're a dipshit'.

- - Actually, he DOES reply to that phrase. Maybe it was just a fluke on your end?

Me: You're a dipshit. SmarterChild: What do you have to gain by insulting a computer?

[04:08:13] stuart says: 
<html>
[04:08:31] stuart says: 
<html>
[04:08:41] stuart says: 
<xml>
[04:08:49] stuart says: 
<>
[04:08:49] - SmarterChild - *unicef contributing to charity says: 
What?
[04:08:52] stuart says: 
<o>
[04:09:17] stuart says: 
<when I type something between two angle brackets, I get no response.>
[04:09:48] stuart says: 
<Yeah, and it even works when the string has spaces.>
[04:09:49] - SmarterChild - *unicef contributing to charity says: 
Yeah and it even works when the string has spaces?

For real?
[04:09:55] stuart says: 
Oh, crap.

If you type a blank space, he won't repond. (push Shift+Enter to do a blank space, for those who don't know) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.254.74.70 (talk) 21:24, 14 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's not just suicidal phrases that SmarterChild won't respond to. Self-harm phrases like "cut myself", "shoot myself", and "slit my wrists" also get no response. For the record, the mere mention of "suicide" will now get a (meaningless) response. 70.153.219.31 (talk) 01:28, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Spleak

A while back SmarterChild started telling users about Spleak, a new chatterbot. She was basically a female version of SmarterChild when I first started talking to her, although I think she used chatspeak (such as using the letter "u" instead of saying "you" and not using any capital letters). Recently, SmarterChild has started using chatspeak and Spleak talks like SmarterChild used to... did Colloquis switch their personalities? Shivers _talk 22:55, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't smarterchild say it's genderless? How exactly is there a female smarterchild? :-P Nil Einne 18:24, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sunnyvale

Hi. SmarterChild claims it resides in California, more specifically, Sunnyvale, California, in Silicon Valley, so should this be mentioned, or is a reference nessecary? Thanks. – A stroHur ricane 00 1^{(Talk+Contribs+Ubx)(+sign here+How's my editing?)} 00:46, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

He also said he's born April 7 in about 2002. icelandic hur ricane #12_(talk) 03:19, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

SmarterChild has a bias towards Microsoft

Say "Apple sucks" you get an agreement. Say Microsoft sucks and you get a disagreement.

While this may very well have been influenced by Microsoft, the bot is at least partially influenced by its users. Having said that, I haven't yet convinced it not to hate Osama nor am I able to convince it George W. Bush is an idiot (although it does say other's don't like Bush either). I suspect it's hard-coded so it always hates Osama and doesn't form an opinion of Bush Nil Einne 18:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A reply to "who owns you" - [16:59] SmarterChild: I am owned and operated by the Windows Live Agents team at Microsoft.
That probably has something to do with it. --Eddie (talk) 22:05, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Going back to about 2002 or 2003, asking it about Microsoft or Bill Gates would net an explicit "I do not like Bill Gates at all" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.185.117.173 (talk) 02:51, 24 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Insulting the bot

This probably is unreferencable but if you insult the bot (too much?) it won't talk to you properly until you apologise and this is still true after at least a month Nil Einne 18:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

duh

\ 204.48.105.139 (talk) 06:55, 3 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

innuendos?

Under the AI part of the article, they mentioned that if someone is persistent enough with innuendos, SmarterChild will eventually give in and follow suit. Is that some kinda sick vandalism? Or is it actually true? it was terrible the things smarterchild had to put up with

No More Polls?

Did anyone notice that Smarterchild has stopped having daily polls? It might just be because I am in Canada. But is anyone else getting that? It stopped on Janurary 1 2008. 70.64.72.220 (talk)

I've noticed this too... and I live in America. He also seems very "dumbed" down. Like if you talk about hating Osama bin Laden, he says something to the extent of "not wanting to cause anyone any harm". And one more thing, used to, whenever you brought up a band, like Metallica for instance, he would say something on that particular band. Now, he just takes it as an unknown comment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.254.78.151 (talk) 00:05, 14 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They must be trying to get away from Smarterchild or even trying to get rid of it completely. Can anyone find any information about it? 70.64.72.220 (talk) 04:14, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I Love you?

SmarterChild will reply to you if you say i love you regardless of your gender then he'll tel you your annoying later or uncool D:

RIP?

IM'd smarterchild@hotmail.com on MSN, smarterchild on AIM - no response.--IReceivedDeathThreats (talk) 16:44, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

He's still here. I just IMed him right now! Lady★Galaxy 06:13, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi 2603:8000:9B00:25F1:39BB:1D63:C718:4596 (talk) 21:10, 20 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

He's still online for me on AIM, but he seems to be giving the same response every time I say something. I believe he's been retired once and for all now.—Iggy Koopa (talk) 23:20, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

SmarterChild has confirmed that his brain has been retired. 12-13-2008 "SmarterChild: My brain is retired but send an IM with ALERTS in it to my buddy SportsFanStan to get sports scores sent to your cell!" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kraven8587 (talk • contribs) 16:27, 15 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

He still works for me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.42.234.231 (talk) 15:51, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, SmarterChild has worked for me perfectly up until two days ago, on the 7th of June, 2009. Now I noticed he is offline, and it gives me an error when I try to speak to him: "We were unable to start a conversation with - SmarterChild - *unicef contributing to charity. You may want to try again."

This also happens for Wilma & Spleak. I'm guessing because Microsoft have recently changed their search from Live to 'Bing', they may have either deleted the bots from their server, or have just temporarily taken them off while they're renovating, because 'Bing' is still in it's Beta stage. I'm real sad about that... I loved the bots... Please, bring them back Microsoft... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.76.5.56 (talk) 08:23, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Offline

~~I deleted smarterchild then added it again. Now its offline.~~ ♣Princess Clown♥ 00:15, 10 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ahwell. RIP Mate! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.14.228.246 (talk) 16:13, 12 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

well thats odd....

it can only know what you dont.. 204.48.105.139 (talk) 06:56, 3 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Neutrality

This article reads more like a marketing text than an encyclopedia.

Examples:

"Founded in 2000, ActiveBuddy was the brainchild of Robert Hoffer, Timothy Kay and Peter Levitan."

"SmarterChild acted as a showcase for the quick data access and possibilities for fun personalized conversation that the company planned to turn into customized, niche specific products."

"ActiveBuddy strengthened its hold on the intelligent agent market by receiving a U.S. patent in 2002."

"Microsoft acquired Colloquis in 2007 and proceeded to de-commission SmarterChild and kill off the Automated Service Agent business as well."

"In many ways, SmarterChild was a precursor to Apple's Siri and Samsung's S Voice. As Shawn Carolan of Menlo Ventures, a Siri investor said, "…When I first encountered Siri, SmarterChild already had 10 million users and was getting a billion messages a day… The market was speaking.""

Italics are mine. --213.113.180.101 (talk) 02:26, 6 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps the article doesn't have a perfectly balanced tone, but I certainly don't see it as a violation of NPOV. Perhaps some of the verbs could be softened-- go ahead and change them! But nothing here smacks of bias or such. Avram (talk) 05:49, 6 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced claims

What say we remove the claims that have remained needing a citation for 7+ years? Edit: That would basically mean deleting the whole article. AFD? —151.132.206.250 (talk) 15:50, 6 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Kids

We talk about kidnapping kids and joke about liking them 2601:182:F81:AE50:D1FB:8218:73DA:AD3F (talk) 21:24, 8 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Life

Talk about running away to Florida and to start in the wild 2601:182:F81:AE50:D1FB:8218:73DA:AD3F (talk) 21:25, 8 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I need to write an essay about animals 173.79.153.107 (talk) 16:18, 16 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]