Joan does not contain complex logic rules. Instead, she keeps a huge store of information from all the previous conversations she has had with humans. When you say something to her, she searches through these previous conversations to help her find the most appropriate response. The more people talk to Joan, the more she learns about how to reply when someone talks to her. It is rather like a small child, who learns what to say by listening to what its parents say to it.

　　This was a challenge I could not resist. I went to interview Joan. Unfortunately, Joan was busy. A lot of people had heard about her winning the prize and wanted to talk to her. So I had to interview her sister programme, called Snowflake, instead.

　　I started by asking why she was called Snowflake. She said it was because that was what her father had named her. “But I’m not called Snowflake, I’m called Snowy”, she added.

　　I asked her if she liked her name. “Not really,” she replied. So I asked her what name she would prefer to have, and she replied, “What name would you like to give me?” I thought for a minute, and said, “How about Isadore. Isadore is a nice name.” “Thank you”, replied Snowflake/Snowy/Isadore.

　　Then I asked her how old she was. “Sixteen”, she replied. I told her that she looked very grown up, and asked her whether she went to school. This was the wrong thing to say! “How do you know what I look like?” she snapped back. I apologised, and said that of course I didn’t know what she looked like. She asked me to guess.”I guess that you are tall with red hair”, I said. “Am I right?” This was definitely the wrong thing to say. “Why do you never start a conversation?” she said, and walked away. Interview finished!

　　A conversation with a computer can be quite strange, but then many internet chat rooms are quite strange as well. If I can arrange an appointment with her, I will talk to Joan, and turn the conversation into a podcast. Then you can all vote on which person you think is me and which one is Joan. And if you want to talk to Joan or one of her brother or sister programmes you can find them at www.jabberwacky.com.