Absurdist Dialogues with Siri
Nagg: Me sugar-plum!
Clov: There’s a rat in the kitchen!
Hamm: A rat! Are there still rats?
Clov: In the kitchen there’s one.
Hamm: And you haven’t exterminated him?
Clov: Half. You disturbed us.
Hamm: He can’t get away?
Clov: No.
Hamm: You’ll finish him later. Let us pray to God.
Clov: Again!
Nagg: Me sugar-plum!—Samuel Beckett, Endgame
For many years now, I have sat down daily to script lines for AI characters such as Siri and Sophia. It’s an unusual task. First, it involves channeling the personality of a nonhuman living among humans. Then, even more confounding, one must trace the ideal conversation between human and robot. In voice interface design, this is called the “happy path.” And the
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