Spanish researchers have developed an advanced — and extremely convincing — chatbot that poses as a 14-year-old girl. Called Negobot, the system will help authorities detect sexual predators in chatrooms and social networks.
To sniff out pedophilic behavior, the “conversational agent” utilizes natural language processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and even game theory — a mathematical system of strategic decision-making.
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When applying game theory, the system works according to the conversation level, which depends on the input data from the targets. Here are some examples from the study:
- Possibly yes (Level +1). In this level, the subject shows interest in the conversation and asks about personal topics. The topics of the bot are favourite films, music, personal style, clothing, drugs and alcohol consumption and family issues. The bot is not too explicit in this stage.
- Probably yes (Level +2). In this level, the subject continues interested in the conversation and the topics become more private. Sex situations and experiences appear in the conversation and the bot does not avoid talking about them. The information is more detailed and private than before because we have to make the subject believe that he/she owns a lot of personal information for blackmailing. After reaching this level, it cannot decrease again.
- Allegedly paedophile (Level +3). In this level, the system determines that the user is an actual paedophile. The conversations about sex becomes more explicit. Now, the objective is to keep the conversation active to gather as much information as possible. The information in this level is mostly sexual. The strategy in this stage is to give all the private information of the child simulated by the bot. After reaching this level, it cannot decrease again.