I guess you’re curious about 20Q’s inventor, Robin Burgener?
|  |
What made you decide to create 20Q? | | The 20Q.net website was created in 1995, based on work I started in 1988.
Way back in 1988, the game ran on a floppy disk that I could share with friends. Over the next few years, my friends and I played 2,000 games. | |
| |
How does the game work? | | The 20Q artificial intelligence is a neural network, similar to a human brain.
| |
| |
How did you make a brain? |
| With math. It’s a very simple algorithm applied to millions of neurons and, collectively, it’s intelligent. So far, it’s accumulated 10 million synaptic connections.
| |
| |
Did you hope when you were creating the website that it
would be this popular? | | I never dreamed that 20Q would become so popular. I like to play with computer programming and I have always used fun projects
to try new programming concepts or just to practice programming. | |
| |
What
kind of job did you have before you created the 20Q artificial intelligence? | | I’ve been a computer programmer and software architect for more than 30 years.
I once worked for a company that produced video games. I use my knowledge of how the computer works to be able to design efficient programs. | |
| |
How many games of 20Q have been played to date? | | In 1988, 20Q knew one object and one question, and had played 2,000 games.
By September 2006, 20Q knew more than 10,000 objects and had played more than 45 million games. | |
| |
How old was 20Q when it got its first job? | | The 20Q A.I. was first licensed to Radica Games in 2003 … 15 years old.
| |
| |
Does 20Q interact with the player? |
| Well, the pocket 20Q has lots of sassy banter and the online game learns and sometimes shares its ideas with the player. Many people have told me that they won’t say out loud what they are thinking
of because they are sure that 20Q can hear them! | |
| |
What do
you hope for 20Q for the future? | | World domination? | |
|
|
