Debating a stubborn opponent can be an exhausting task, unless, of course, your entire argument is automated.
A software developer has created a Twitter bot that automatically discovers and responds to tweets that are skeptical of global warming.
Nigel Leck's chatbot @AI_AGW, who goes by the name "
Turing Test," scans Twitter every five minutes in search of hundreds of terms and phrases that tend to be used by those who think global warming is not occurring or that humans are not responsible for it.
Once the bot finds such a phrase, it tweets a relevant 140 character response.
The bot chooses a response from a database of hundreds of pre-written rebuttals, which often include links to information and videos.
According to Leck, the database originally was just a collection of responses he had written himself, but now the responses include arguments culled from a university source whom he cannot divulge.
Many of those who receive a tweet from @AI_AGW do not realize it is a bot and try to start an argument with it, Leck says....