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The Virtual Teacher

Posted by samzenpus on Wed Apr 04, 2007 07:43 PM
from the aibo-ate-my-homework dept.
The Internet Education Technology
Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers from Illinois and Florida are developing a networking system which will create virtual representations of real people to improve our knowledge. They will use artificial intelligence and natural language processing software to enable us to interact with these avatars. The goal of the project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is to give us the possibility to interact with these virtual representations as if they were the actual person, complete with the ability to understand and answer questions. We should see the results at the beginning of 2008 — if the researchers succeed."
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  • Vacuous article (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nebaz (453974) * on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:45PM (#18614551)


    Summary of article (IMHO):

            Guess what. In the future, we will create avatars that will look and sound just like real people. To see how far along we are, take a look at some of these avatars

          (decent graphical images, which not an AI make)

          There's some money from the NSF to continue this effort.

          Really smart guys are working on ways to get realistic sounding voices and
          mannerisms.

          We're using motion capture too.

          Is this commercially viable? We'll have to see.


    First of all, this virtual avatar stuff is icing on the cake. The first (easiest) Turing test implementation does not require body language, realistic avatars, or
    mannerisms, and we are still YEARS from that. What makes anyone think that this is remotely possible by next year?

    P.S. The submitter's name seems familiar. Where have I heard it before?

     

    • tag: boycottroland (Score:5, Informative)

      by SuperBanana (662181) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:58PM (#18614687)

      P.S. The submitter's name seems familiar. Where have I heard it before?

      Roland submits dozens upon dozens of stories to Slashdot. "Vacuous" is pretty accurate; I've repeatedly heard Slashdotters ask for the ability to filter his crap like we used to be able to filter Jon Katz.

      The primary difference is that while Katz was batshit insane and overimpressed with himself, Roland simply states the obvious and inane in his "article", and then submits it to slashdot. He regularly does little more than quote sections of the article and supply obvious commentary...and watches the hit counts roll in.

      There are two remarkable facts: one, that there isn't better content in the submission queue, and two: I don't think I've ever seen comments posted supporting him. Hilariously, on the rare occasion he does post, he's moderated down so fast, he must be on the level of the GNAA people in terms of Karma.

      Since hits support Roland, I'd suggest slashdotters tag his stuff "boycottroland"

      • tag: pigpile (Score:3, Informative)

        by cswiii (11061)
        seen that one before too.

      • Since hits support Roland, I'd suggest slashdotters tag his stuff "boycottroland"
        Now if only slashcode would support the ability to filter out articles by their tags - seems to me to be an obvious feature to add, especially given how long the new tagging system has been kicking around.
      • How about a FireFox extension or greasemonkey script to accomplish this? We're (well at least y'all) are the Open Source community. You're not helpless...

    • tag: boycottroland (Score:5, Interesting)

      by joe_bruin (266648) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @08:46PM (#18615117) Homepage Journal
      I've just added *.primidi.com (Roland's blog) to my adblock filters. I obviously never go there intentionally, but I've clicked on his links a few times without checking the submitter name. I suggest you all do the same.

      Unfortunately, the ZDnet article linked is also written by our buddy Roland. I do wish that Slashdot would give me a way to avoid his crap (or, y'know, just not approve his stories). Either way, I think the boycottroland tag will help me in the future.
      • Do the same adblock trick for zdnet. Does zdnet produce anything worth reading?
        • Do the same adblock trick for zdnet. Does zdnet produce anything worth reading?

          You make a good point. I just added blogs.zdnet.com to my blocking list, as it is entirely useless.
    • here ! here !br> no to mention that the content is rife with potential for abuse.

    • Re:Vacuous article (Score:4, Insightful)

      by countach (534280) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @09:53PM (#18615691)
      It doesn't have to pass the Turing test, it merely has to be a useful teaching aid. A much lower standard to reach.

      • Re:Why does everyone hate Roland Piquepaille? (Score:5, Informative)

        by SuperBanana (662181) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @08:10PM (#18614795)

        I know that a lot of people here at Slashdot have a burning hatred for Roland Piquepaille. But I find it confusing. The articles he submits are always very interesting, especially for those of us interested in science. They're the epitome of "news for nerds".

        The problem is that he submits interesting articles which are linked via his blog. So we read a blog story about a blog story about something interesting.

        He forces slashdotters to go through his site (racking up hits and advertising dollars) to read the actual interesting content...

        • I agree. Shady, yet market-efficient ethics at best. I don't like making extra clicks to get to vacuous articles with minimal, obvious commentary (although this sounds alot like articles from wired, computerworld, pcmag, and many others). Does /. have a policy on this? Shouldn't the poster be require to link directly to actual vacuous article in question? Can't we use the power of the unfunded mandate to legislate the actions of posters? Perhaps we should take this to SCOTUS. Does Groklaw have anythi
        • I still don't see how this is different from many other, worse blogs/sites linked to in slashdot articles. Why are Roland's articles so OMGHorrible (tm)? I mean, the original article is linked right there in the slashdot summary, contrary to what might be expected in any other slashdot article on a blog posting. This boycott is a bit of a flaming WTF to me, really.

          • You're quite wrong; Mr. Piquepaille provides a very useful service. His summaries are of great use to busy people like myself, who wish to stay up-to-date with recent developments, but who do not have the time to read lengthy articles. He gets us the information we need in a swift and efficient manner.

            And you sound very suspiciously like Roland (or CNET) astroturfing from an anonymous account. Who are you?

            • Isn't that what every AC dreams of, being accused of actually being someone? Just leave it, you're barking up an empty tree.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by CmdrPorno (115048)
        He used to summarize the articles on his blog, and then submit the link to his blog on Slashdot instead of linking to the original article, which netted him ad dollars every time someone visited. Now, he submits links to the original article, but still gets a link back to his blog (if you click on his name). Most Slashdotters still hold a grudge against him for his past actions, which is understandable since he was essentially spamming.

        • Re:Why does everyone hate Roland Piquepaille? (Score:4, Informative)

          by lucabrasi999 (585141) on Thursday April 05 2007, @05:36AM (#18618293) Journal
          Now, he submits links to the original article, but still gets a link back to his blog (if you click on his name). Most Slashdotters still hold a grudge against him for his past actions, which is understandable since he was essentially spamming.

          Actually, the zdnet article he linked to is a blog that Roland writes for zdnet. So, he is still linking to his spam. Unfortunately, zdnet seems to think that Roland is providing a useful service, just like Taco does. I was sort of hoping Roland would go away, and he is only becoming more popular.

  • Yes that's all well and nice ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Average_Joe_Sixpack (534373) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:45PM (#18614555)
    but can I frag them with a rail gun?

  • Sounds a bit like... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jhon (241832) * on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:46PM (#18614565) Homepage Journal
    True Names by Vernor Vinge to me...
  • Will this be on the test?
  • How is this better than a real teacher?
    • While I'm sure this software will be damn near worthless when it makes it's first apperance, I have to make the comment that I've seen many worthless professors and teachers. I've even had people in my classes correcting the professors because they were telling us the wrong facts out of the very reading they assigned to us the night before. This will be interesting to see how far it may actually go in the future. It may be somewhat of a solution to the problem professor like the ones I mentioned above, howe
    • Um, they aren't constantly whinning about low pay?

    • It's not.

  • Good idea (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kohath (38547) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:50PM (#18614609)
    It will never be able to be used to help in public schools because it doesn't pay union dues.

  • A bit inaccurate.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by qw0ntum (831414) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:52PM (#18614635) Journal
    Ronald left out the part about the system being powered by cold fusion! Seriously, is it realistic to expect researchers to figure out how to digitize someone's entire personality and knowledge in less than a year?


    Allergies are blocking my nose, but I can still smell the stench of sensationalism with this one.

  • Never Send A Machine To Do A Man's Job (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vivaoporto (1064484) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @07:52PM (#18614637) Homepage
    I doubt we will see any meaningful result soon on this field. First because AI is not at this advanced point yet (in order to provide improvisation and interactivity), and the use of pre-recorded images and sounds cannot cope with the ingenuity and the unpredictability of the students. Second because human beings, although very sympathetic to the idea of talking heads (just look at clippy), in the long run get bored of it.

    On the other side, I already had a couple of teachers that were completely inept to their jobs, following scripts just like a computer program with pre-recorded footage would. But computers are very unlikely to come even near to advantages a real good teacher can provide.
  • This comes along as an even bigger waste of time for presentations.

  • Ask Jeeves - been there, done that, failed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blitz487 (606553) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @08:12PM (#18614811)
    "Ask Jeeves" tried to do this and failed miserably. What hope does this have? Researchers still cannot even write acceptable language translation software, and this would be far beyond that.

  • There's a problem with this. (Score:4, Funny)

    by jeevesbond (1066726) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @08:20PM (#18614895) Homepage

    The problem is as soon as the teacher says anything like: 'Now class, I'd like you to help me do this...' WAAAJAANNAAA!!! Everyone gets a massive fine from Amazon for infringing their 'Humans Assisting Computers [slashdot.org]' patent.

    I wonder if Amazon will use special lawyer avatars to hand out the court summons?

  • Virtual representations eh?

    About as useful as a virtual avatar for a search engine: http://www.msdewey.com/ [msdewey.com]

    Bitch never gives me what I want though!

  • Automated post: FA void of anything new or useful (Score:4, Informative)

    by viking80 (697716) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @08:38PM (#18615049) Journal
    This is an automated comment generated by a grease monkey script. If you agree that this is posted by a blog whore, or if you do not want to read any future articles with no useful or new content, you can gray out all Roland Piquepaille articles with this script:

    http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/5735/ [userscripts.org]

    Enjoy!

    The part that automatically posts this information is not included.

  • Sure virtual teachers are great, but what will really make this complete is virtual students. Only then can we have a fully automated educational system that can operate at maximum capacity with minimum taxpayer expense. Of course, it will still be necessary to maintain colleges as fronts for basketball and football programs. This is, however, hardly without precedent.

  • OK, so virtual teacher, not virtual student. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Runefox (905204) on Wednesday April 04 2007, @08:41PM (#18615061) Homepage
    How does Virtual Teacher discipline Non-Virtual Ritalin-Required Student? Shock buzzer? Stern language? Complete room lockdown with titanium sheeting? Lasers? How does Virtual Teacher respond to vulgarities? Slang?

    "Yo', homes, teach me sum alg'braw 'n' shiz so I be up on da fo'-one-one and tut' me sum ladayz, fo'shizzaw muh nizza, biznatch."
    "Please repeat query."
    "Yo, man, dis shit is whack."
    "Please repeat query."
    "What da fuck."
    "Please refrain from using profanity."
    "Hey, fuck you, man."
    "LOCK DOWN IN PROGRESS."
    *CLANG CLANG CLANG*
    "Cleansing speech orifice with Javex. Please wait..."
  • was a couple of days ago.
  • we can be reasonably sure that a virtual teacher won't virtually molest their wards.

    LK
  • ... they have a Mary K. Letourneau avatar available.
  • Sounds just like it, a virtual avatar that is basically an expert system designed around the memories of a real person. "Would you like an anagelsic cream for that?"
  • They will use artificial intelligence and natural language processing software to enable us to interact with these avatars

    Until students start complaining of this Indian accent, would researchers admit that this AI is actually backed by real humans, and it's very cost effective.
  • martian timeslip
    by philip k dick
    • The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

      Is this another case of science and technology striving to achieve a vision that was dreamed of by a Sci Fi author?

      Which reminds me, has anyone yet created the photoanalysis device that Dekkard uses in Bladerunner? My take on this was that the software was using some sort of super-resolution image processing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution/ [wikipedia.org]

      I was interested to see an article a while ago where a developer from Linden Labs said that Snowcrash, another N

  • I don't believe this would benefit learning.

    A real teacher interacts with his students.
    He notices their behaviour and based on that he adepts his lessons.
    Think of it would a digital teacher help teenagers learn (adults are much the same).

    More likely computer screen colors fancy graphics will distract away from what has to be learned. Remember we probaply all had tried that web advising monkey advater that could speak and would help you search the web. Nice idea but it mainly distracts. And computers dont un

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