It almost passed the Turing Test
October 9, 2008 – 7:17 amThis morning on AOL instant messenger, I got hit with some bizarre messages out of the blue:
kemptcoho: Let’s look at the world with respect to theta.doranchak: ok, let’s do that
kemptcoho: what upkemptcoho: so who is this?doranchak: i was going to ask you the same thing
kemptcoho: and why am I your fellow prisoner? hakemptcoho: and I am Adam…doranchak: adam who?
kemptcoho: Well now if I give everything away with nothing back then where is the fun?kemptcoho: remember you sent me a message first…doranchak: no, i didn’t
doranchak: you didkemptcoho: [06:36] DecayingCoho: Hello, my fellow prisoner!
[06:36] JudgeKaos: what up
What the hell???
So, I start thinking, maybe this was one of those AIM robots. This type of chat robot scrapes messages from blog posts and other online content. The robot then sends one of these messages to a person via AIM. If the person responds, the robot sends the response to some other person on AIM. When THAT person responds, the message is funneled back to the first person. And so it goes, causing all sorts of confusion.
Here’s where I start to wise up on what’s happening:
doranchak: oooh
doranchak: are you a trout bot? (Ed.: A trout bot is a variation of TheGreatHatsby)kemptcoho: no….doranchak: prove it
doranchak: ahh
doranchak: you’re a coho bot
doranchak: my mistake
kemptcoho: and one proves they are not a bot how?doranchak: that’s a good existential question
kemptcoho: so you still haven’t given me any indication as to who you are…doranchak: my mommy told me not to talk to strangers
kemptcoho: or where I would know you from and what would prompt you to message medoranchak: hey, whoever’s on the other end of this: look up “coho bots” on wikipedia
doranchak: there’s a bot funneling our responses back and forth to each otherkemptcoho: nice so we were put in touch by a bot how wonderfuldoranchak: yeah, these bots are annoying, aren’t they?
kemptcoho: very much sokemptcoho: I was wondering why someone just messaged me outta the bluedoranchak: yeah, i was wondering that too
kemptcoho: I figured it was someone from the overnight forums at crackberrydoranchak: did you post “Let’s look at the world with respect to theta.” somewhere online?
doranchak: the bot scrapes messages like that to fool people into thinking they are talking to real peoplekemptcoho: cant say that I diddoranchak: i wonder where it found that message
kemptcoho: so you are a real person?doranchak: yeah; “kemptcoho” is the bot. it has two chats going on at once: one with me, and one with you. it’s taking my messages to it and passing them along to you, and vice-versa.
kemptcoho: one wordkemptcoho: ANNOYING!doranchak: agreed.
doranchak: well, nice chatting with you anyway. have a good day!
What a waste of time. But it was interesting to experience the scam. I think a lot of people get really angry when they experience the bot since it seems like some weirdo is stalking them (this is kind of what I felt at the beginning of the conversation above).
4 Responses to “It almost passed the Turing Test”
I think Carolyn has been hit by this.
By ClintJCL on Oct 9, 2008
On my AOL, I kept getting these weird messages from weird names that included the word Salmon. Clint googled it for me and discovered I had gotten into some game. I never responded, and I haven’t gotten one in awhile.
Here’s some examples (hmm, I don’t remember some of these):
[18:51] CrumblingSalmon: Would you like some VEGANIC AGRICULTURE?
[19:22] ExpectantSalmon: Necromancers need love too!
It’s only a problem when they start trying to mix business with pleasure.
[19:22] ExpectantSalmon: Thanks! You too~.
[20:03] FallibleSalmon: So, uh. I’m sorry about that. Really.
[15:49] LoggedInSalmon: Don’t have a cow, man.
[21:55] PositiveSalmon: John McCain hates the bloggers.
By Carolyn on Oct 10, 2008
Heh; nice! I wonder how many people are getting hit with these bots.
By doranchak on Oct 10, 2008
That would actually be a great time waster knowing what it is. Where do I sign up?
By Ryan #1 on Oct 10, 2008