New Press Secretary to Be A Bot

Michael Patrick Brady, writing at McSweeneys.net, wonders what White House press briefings would look like if the new press secretary were SmarterChild, “an interactive agent built by Conversagent, Inc. Interactive agents are software applications, often called ‘bots,’ that interact with users on Instant Messaging or other text messaging services. You can ‘chat’ with an interactive agent, whether on the web or over IM, the same way you talk to any other contact. To talk with SmarterChild, just send him a message saying ‘hi!’