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I was wondering if I should do this, because 2 out of 5 questions on Stack Overflow don't ever get answered, or if they do get (an) answer (s), most of the time they're not helpful.

So I was thinking -- why not create a chat bot to answer Stack Overflow's questions & provide necessary information to the general public?

I mean why not? I've always been interested in AI, and all I'd need to do is create a basic logic database and a context system, pack an artificial personality with (partial) human instincts, and bam I'm done.

But then again, would it be ethical?

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    $\begingroup$ "all I'd need to do". You seem to me to be rather optimistic about the ability of known AI techniques to emulate even the poorest of answers. You've also been extremely sketchy on detail. In any event, the burden of proof is on you. $\endgroup$
    – NietzscheanAI
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 7:50
  • $\begingroup$ This is a really interesting question! Ethics, though, is very broad. If you could narrow down the ethical concern you have, I think we could give more helpful answers. $\endgroup$
    – Ben N
    Commented Nov 8, 2016 at 22:28

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Yes, it is possible, and has actually been done in the past.

The University of Antwerp created a bot to answer questions (this is the technical report). It focused on the tag only though (even though it did answer one question).

Its accuracy was pretty good, and the bots in the tests did earn some reputation. So I assume it is possible.

But do note that the last bot in the tests revealed that it was a bot, and thus got banned. So if you reveal that the account you are running the bot on is a bot, there is a high chance that it will get banned.

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Technically, creating a non-human account on Stack Exchange would violate the Terms of Service. You would have to find some way to keep it from getting banned.

That having been said, creating, and learning are always good things. It would be a somewhat complex task, but I'm sure you would learn a lot from it. There are plenty of bots out that use the questions and answers from Stack Exchange already, but none directly on the site.

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