Facebook releases a platform for building smarter chatbots

Facebook has released a platform that could combine different advances in artificial intelligence and make machines a lot more articulate. The framework, called ParlAI, offers researchers a simpler way to build conversational AI systems, and to combine different approaches to machine dialogue. The framework should make it easier for developers to build chatbots that aren't so easily stumped by an unexpected question. A common criticism of the chatbots released to date, including those available via Facebook, is that they are too narrowly focused and too easily confused. The long-term hope is that ParlAI will help advance the state of the art in natural language research by reducing the amount of work required to develop and benchmark different approaches.