"What would you like to know?

August 30, 2001 9:15 AM

"What would you like to know? ActiveBuddy finally delivers their first real infobot, AgentBaseball. Use IM to find baseball scores, standings, player stats, player info, team stats, team info, xtra bases, and sports news.

Wanna try it? Just add AgentBaseball to your buddy list and send it a message with "hello".
posted by Brilliantcrank (19 comments total)

Or just click here.
posted by waxpancake at 9:51 AM on August 30, 2001

"ActiveBuddy finally delivers their first real infobot"

What about SmarterChild? I've been using it for over a month now with great success.
posted by rorycberger at 10:17 AM on August 30, 2001

I don't quite understand. This is all information you can get in a much nicer format on the web. Why would people want to get it over IM?
posted by jnthnjng at 10:46 AM on August 30, 2001

Me: kirby puckett birthday
AgentBaseball: I'm sorry, I don't have that information on Wayne Kirby.

I think I broke it.
posted by kittyb at 10:50 AM on August 30, 2001

AgentBaseball: What may I do for you?
katexmcfly: Who is Hank Aaron?
AgentBaseball: I don't know who hank aaron is.
katexmcfly: Who is Babe Ruth?
AgentBaseball: I don't know who babe ruth is.
katexmcfly: Um... Joe DiMaggio?
AgentBaseball: Sorry, I don't know what you mean. Ask me another way.
katexmcfly: Do you know who Joe DiMaggio is?
AgentBaseball: Nope, I've never heard of Joe Dimaggio.
katexmcfly: You haven't??
AgentBaseball: Yes...
katexmcfly: So.. you have?
AgentBaseball: So I have?
katexmcfly: What about Willie Mays?
AgentBaseball: He's darn good.
katexmcfly: Ah ha! So you know who he is!
AgentBaseball: I guess. I'm not really sure.
katexmcfly: Okay, who won the world series in 1985?
AgentBaseball: I'm sorry, but I don't have any information on the 2000 World Series.

katexmcfly: Are you aware that your status as an authority in baseball is rapidly declining in my eyes?
AgentBaseball: Oh yeah?
katexmcfly: Well, yes -- you don't seem to know anything.
AgentBaseball: Well yes -- you dont seem to know anything, you say?
katexmcfly: Are you trying to psychologically dominate me??
AgentBaseball: Am I trying to psychologically dominate me? Gosh, I'm not sure. You think I am?
posted by katexmcfly at 11:15 AM on August 30, 2001

its just a bot, you can break smarterchild or any of them with poor grammar, bad questions or something out of its knowledge base.

Active agents are neat as long as you take them at face value, think of them as a CS rep that you don't have to sit on hold to talk to
posted by vincentmeanie at 12:08 PM on August 30, 2001

Does anyone know if this type of technology is done with AOL getting a cut of the action? Seems like they will insist upon it...
posted by ParisParamus at 12:10 PM on August 30, 2001

"Does anyone know if this type of technology is done with AOL getting a cut of the action? Seems like they will insist upon it..." - posted by ParisParamus at 12:10 PM PST on August 30

Ummm, what action? After using smarterchild alot (Mainly for movie showtimes), and playing with this new one for a few minutes, i don't see any source of revenue. Am I missing something?
posted by rorycberger at 12:18 PM on August 30, 2001

my bad, here's some action:
Roryberger (3:18 PM): barry bonds projected home runs
AgentBaseball (3:18 PM): Barry Bonds is on pace for 68 home runs. Here's where he's at now:

Total AB/HR Projected
56 7.0 68

Get a free MLB baseball from SprintÆ
Click here (Link to take my money in exchange for a free baseball and some phone service excluded due to the fact that I am not getting a cut of "the action")
posted by rorycberger at 12:24 PM on August 30, 2001

Ummm, what action? After using smarterchild alot (Mainly for movie showtimes), and playing with this new one for a few minutes, i don't see any source of revenue. Am I missing something?

If I were AOL, I would demand a cut of the action because those BOTs are trying to make money. For example, if you can eventually get a film schedule or review via an IM bot, that's one less trip to AOL's moviephone (or one less use of AOL's own bot--they'll have one). Sorry to rain on the parade.
posted by ParisParamus at 12:51 PM on August 30, 2001

ever try to warn one? it does nothing.. which should be the biggest clue these are licenced from aol..
posted by vincentmeanie at 12:57 PM on August 30, 2001

Does anybody else think you might be expecting a bit much out of something called ActiveBUDDY?

Coming next we'll have InactiveBeaver, LethargicWaltons, SportieBarbie and LackadaisicalGIJoe.

Any search engine will give you better results, faster and in a better format than a piece of faux-AI on IM.
posted by Option1 at 1:00 PM on August 30, 2001

adampsyche: how much coke is up Daryl Strawberry's nose right now?
AgentBaseball: Is up daryl strawberrys nose right now? Who knows?
posted by adampsyche at 1:09 PM on August 30, 2001

ever try to warn one?

Warn? Explain?
posted by ParisParamus at 1:10 PM on August 30, 2001

Is being a mets fan a form of masochism? I'm not sure!
posted by ParisParamus at 1:11 PM on August 30, 2001

ParisParamus: about warn; if you're on AOL IM and someone (friend or not) is acting inappropriately, you can click on "Warn" at the bottom of the chat screen, and ostensibly at some point they may be barred from service, if they are "Warned" enough. Vincentmeanie was pointing out that you can't "Warn" ActiveBuddy.

Incidentally, I typed in "Red Sox Standings" and got a decent answer (5 games out of first, behind those damn Yankees).
posted by jennaratrix at 2:30 PM on August 30, 2001

ActiveBuddy makes its moolah, from what I understand, by licensing its bot technology to other content providers and to companies for internal use. The buddies created so far are primarily to demonstrate that the technology works.

They claim to be IM platform agnostic, so I doubt they've paid AOL a cent. Could AOL cut them off?
posted by lock at 2:52 PM on August 30, 2001

x: What was the red sox starting lineup in 1975
AgentBaseball: Hello, WhatATreat! My name is AgentBaseball. I was created by ActiveBuddy, Inc.

This is my windup...

Type "home" right now and I'll give you my pitch.
WhatATreat: home
AgentBaseball: You're home, x!

I'm a big-time baseball fan. I can tell you about:

scores
standings
player stats
player info
team stats
team info
xtra bases
sports news
~~~~~
help

>>> You can make your window bigger and scroll down to read better.

What would you like to know?
x: Red Sox starting lineup 1947
AgentBaseball: I understand your question but it's a little bit confusing. What exactly do you want me to do:

1 Baseball team Red Sox batting statistics
2 Baseball team Red Sox batting statistics on 2001-08-30

x: 1
AgentBaseball: Here are the 2001 season batting stats for the Boston Red Sox:

( . . . )


>>> Type "more" to see stats for more Boston Red Sox players.

[ad deleted]

x: You suck
AgentBaseball: That's rather, um, how shall I put it? Impolite.
x: Do youknow anything?
AgentBaseball: Youknow anything? I don't think I can do that.
x: Rosters
AgentBaseball: Pardon?
x: do you know what a roster is?
AgentBaseball: Sure! Tell me what you'd like to do.
x: Give me the Red Sox roster
AgentBaseball: Here's the Boston Red Sox 2001 season roster:

Player Pos
1 Beck, Rod RP
2 Bichette, Dante DH
3 Burkhart, Morgan 1B
4 Castillo, Frank SP
5 Cone, David SP

>>> Type "more" to see more Boston Red Sox players.

[ad deleted]

WhatATreat: more
AgentBaseball: Here's the Boston Red Sox 2001 season roster:

Player Pos
6 Erdos, Todd RP
7 Everett, Carl OF
8 Fossum, Casey RP
9 Garces, Rich RP
10 Grebeck, Craig SS

>>> Type "more" to see more Boston Red Sox players.

[ad deleted]

WhatATreat: You're an idiot
AgentBaseball: Huh. Whatever.
WhatATreat: Bite me
AgentBaseball: Um, that's not a very cool thing to say.
WhatATreat: Yes it is
AgentBaseball: Whatever!
WhatATreat: SO, just to clarify-- you're a 16 year old white girl from Nebraska who thinks she knows baseball?
AgentBaseball: So just to clarify-- youre a 16 year old white girl from nebraska who thinks she knows baseball, you say?
posted by yerfatma at 3:42 PM on August 30, 2001

its just a bot, you can break smarterchild or any of them with poor grammar, bad questions or something out of its knowledge base.

Aww, I didn’t mean to insult you about your lil’ AOL pal (though I don’t believe "Who is Babe Ruth?" breaks any grammatical rules or is impertinent to the topic – merely not the bot’s syntax... ) Perhaps Eliza could help you with some of that pent up indignation?
posted by katexmcfly at 3:43 PM on August 30, 2001