Zabaware Wins Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence

October 21, 2007

Today Zabaware’s Ultra Hal software won the “most human” computer of the year in the 17th annual Loebner Prize Competition for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The contest was held in New York City hosted by philanthropist Hugh Loebner.

The Loebner Prize is an annual competition (sponsored by Crown Industries) where software programs attempt to convince human judges that they are actually people. The format of the competition is called a Turing Test. In a Turing Test a judge talks with 2 “entities” simultaneously through a text-based instant messaging system. One entity is a human and the other is a computer. It is up to the judge to decide which is which by typing questions to both entities and receiving answers.

Zabaware is an Erie, Pennsylvania based company that specializes in artificial intelligence technology. The company’s mission “giving your computer the power of thought” once considered a futuristic pipe dream is becoming a 2007 reality.

It is one thing to talk to your computer it is quite another to have a conversation where you are exchanging information and the computer learns and utilizes the information in the future. Zabaware’s Ultra Hal technology and its associated brain are currently doing just that. The software can give your computer a personality using AI technology, speech recognition technology, and real-time animation. It can be used as an entertainment program, a companion, or an office assistant. It learns from conversations and evolves and improves the more it talks with a person. In addition to chat it can perform useful functions such as remembering and reminding of appointments, keeping an address book, dialing phone numbers, launching program, and more.

Zabaware’s Ultra Hal software runs on most standard Windows computers. The artificial intelligence software is available for download at www.zabaware.com as a free 30-day trial.