Lesson plan

FreeHAL

FreeHAL was a volunteer computing project to build a self-learning chatbot. This project is no longer active. Originally, the program was called JEliza referring to the chatbot ELIZA by Joseph Weizenbaum. The J stood for Java because JEliza has first been programmed in Java. In May 2008, the program has been renamed to FreeHAL because the programming language has changed. The name is related to the computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. FreeHAL uses a semantic network and technologies like pattern recognition, stemming, part of speech databases and Hidden Markov Models in order to imitate a human behaviour. FreeHAL learns autonomously. While communicating by keyboard, the program extends its database. Currently, English and German are supported. By using the BOINC platform, new semantic networks for the program are built. FreeHAL@home appears to have terminated operations.

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Article summary

FreeHAL was a volunteer computing project to build a self-learning chatbot. This project is no longer active. Originally, the program was called JEliza referring to the chatbot ELIZA by Joseph Weizenbaum. The J stood for Java because JEliza has first been programmed in Java. In May 2008, the program has been renamed to FreeHAL because the programming language has changed. The name is related to the computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. FreeHAL uses a semantic network and technologies like pattern recognition, stemming, part of speech databases and Hidden Markov Models in order to imitate a human behaviour. FreeHAL learns autonomously. While communicating by keyboard, the program extends its database. Currently, English and German are supported. By using the BOINC platform, new semantic networks for the program are built. FreeHAL@home appears to have terminated operations.

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  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

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