The next generation of children could be able to talk with their teddy bears, according to experts who say that 'chatbox' technology is progressing so fast that toys will be able to hold realistic human conversations within twenty years.

Full Metro story: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=19290&in_page_id=2

The Festival of Science will be attended by its first virtual delegate, a software "chatbot" that can hold 1,000 conversations at the same time.

George is a thin, bald androgynous 40-year-old who can blink, fidget and converse with a peculiar, languid accent. The virtual human was developed by Rollo Carpenter, artificial intelligence (AI) programmer and managing director of Icogno Ltd, and Tim Child, founder of Televirtual Ltd.

The Telegraph article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/04/nscience04.xml

A ROBOT chat machine so life-like many people are fooled into thinking it's human has become the latest internet sensation.

The world's most sophisticated "chatbot" - invented by British scientists - can talk on the internet with hundreds of different people at the same time, but each person has the impression that it is only talking to them.

The Scotsman article: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1303512006

He's 39, single and lives in Battersea but George, above, is a chatbot - a highly sophisticated computer program that can hold an intelligent conversation, complete with gestures and facial expressions. He is also the most human machine in the world, a title he will be defending in London on September 17.

This week George, who learns from every conversation, will be talking to fans, scientists and the media at the BA Festival of Science in Norwich.

The Times article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2341457,00.html

Meet George, 39, single, quirky sense of humour, looking for friends to chat with online.

He's a profound intellect and speaks 40 languages, but is also prone to unwarranted rudeness and his banter can be slightly disjointed.

George is a chat robot, or chatbot, whose descendants may become familiar faces in interactive entertainment systems, his creators claim.

He will star at the British Association Science Festival in Norwich this week.

Full BBC News story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5303126.stm