Autobot, by Boryana Dragoeva, is an artificially-intelligent chat partner for your lonely evenings. By logging in to the web-based chat interface, you can teach your very own Autobot to communicate.

At first Autobot is an electronic idiot, it can only repeat what you say. The bot learns from talking with you: he or she can be whoever you want: long-lost brother, perfect lover. You can feed it every line from ‘The Goonies’ or teach him the finer points of wine-tasting.

Each bot becomes a reflection of the mind and moods of its creator.

Last year, Dragoeva spent 2 weeks in Liverpool where she collaborated with four people to train chat bot personalities as their best friend, evil twin, and ideal romantic partner. The resulting personalities, known as Spookybots, are also showcased as part of the Autobot website.

The point of the artist is that “The burden of creation is a terrible one – at dark times, many of us may have asked the question, Why were my parents so cruel, that they made me live in this awful world? As artificial technologies become increasingly sentient over the next century, how will we answer this question, when it is
asked by our new creations?”