A virtual Lolita that poses as a 14-year-old schoolgirl to trap
paedophiles on social network sites has been created byscientists.
The conversational agent or "chatbot" known as Negobot is a
sophisticated computer program capable of fooling sexual predators
into believing she is real.
One police force in Spain, where she was created, has already shown an
interest in employing the undercover cybercop.
Placed in a forum where a paedophile isthought to be lurking, Negobot
starts off as a passive and neutral participant in general online
chatter.
As conversations become more intimate or suggestive, and the "target"
begins toemploy grooming tactics, her behaviour changes in ways
designed to lure him in.
The chatbot might appear insistent or offended, and an attempt to
obtain personal information will cause Negobot to try to find out more
about the suspect.
Scientists used game theory, a mathematical system of strategic
decision making, to make her behaviourmore convincing.
A split personality with seven different conversation patterns adds to
the realism. Other tricks include inserting"typos", abbreviations, and
deliberate language errors, to mimic the actions ofa young teenager.
One of Negobot's creators, Dr Carlos Laorden, from the University of
Deusto, said: "Chatbots tend to be very predictable. Their behaviour
and interestin a conversation are flat, which is a problem when
attempting to detect untrustworthy targets like paedophiles.
"What is new about Negobot is that it employs game theory to maintain
a much more realistic conversation."
Not only could the program resume discussions separated in time, but
it wasable to "take the lead" in conversations and use slang
expressions.
The team had a collaborative agreementwith the Ertzaintza, the Basque
Country police force, which had shown"considerable interest", said Dr
Laorden.
"Negobot has already been implemented and trialled actively on
Google's chat service and could also be translated into other
languages," he added.
"We do not discard the possibility of bringing it to new channels in
the future and we believe it could be a veryuseful tool for social
networks to incorporate."
Despite having a high degree of artificial intelligence, Negobot's
powers of conversation are still limited, the researchers point out.
She is unable to detect linguistic subtleties such as irony,for
instance.
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