It may sound like something that should be in the distant future, but Dr Peter Millican of Oxford University believes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used to get automated qualitative result from online research.
Research-live.co.uk states out that Dr Millican has developed âElizabethâ, a form of AI. He explained: âIf we use Alan Turingâs definition: âIf a computer having an online conversation can fool a human into thinking that itâs human, it is deemed to be intelligentâ.â?
At the Research 2006 conference Dr Millican carried out a conversation with Elizabeth to demonstrate how open ended questions could be developed and probed. Software like Elizabeth could be used for online interviewing, citing low cost, the fact that it is unaffected by pressure, it has a better memory than an interviewer, and it offers the researcher more control over the interview.
The software is available to download at www.eliz.millican.org