After posting on artificial intelligence in the movies, I promptly went to Akinator to see if he could guess the character HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Here were his questions:

Has your character really existed? No
Is your character a human being? No
Does your character wear clothes? No
Is your character an animal? No
Does your character have legs? No
Does your character have eyes? No
Can you see your character? Yes

So far so good, but then he asked:

Is your character a salsa singer?

What!!?

… No.

Is your character from a video game? No
Is your character from the Resident Evil franchise? No
Was your character a real western figure? No
Does your character attend a school? No
Is your character Jewish? No
Is your character from the Godzilla series? No
Is your character from a TV series? No
Is your character an adult man? No
Does your character have a hammer?

(??)

… No
Can your character think? Yes
Is your character famous for his physical strength? No
Can your character move? Probably not

Does it look to you like he’s getting anywhere close?

Nah, not to me either.

Then:

 I guess HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Amazing! I love when he does that!

(P.S. Anyone know how “Akinator” is pronounced?)