February 21, 2003:

John Lennon is alive and well and living in the Internet. Don't believe me? Then try surfing into the John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project Web site (www.triumphpc.com/john-lennon-project/index.shtml) for a virtual conversation with the gone but definitely not forgotten Beatle. Lennon has been reborn (and rebooted) as a Persona-Bot™, developed by Triumph PC Online of Washington, D.C. Persona-Bots™ are software programs that can mimic the personality of any historical figure as a chatterbot. In development since 1997, the JLAI Project (originally called the Plastic Digital Karma Project) has achieved a lifelike impersonation of Lennon but still has a way to go to achieve the seamlessness of a conversation with a real person.

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Artificial John Lennon: What's your first name?

Austin Chronicle: Sidney.

AJL: Are you kidding, Sidney?

AC: Are you kidding?

AJL: I don't know. Perhaps I should ask you.

AC: You just did.

AJL: Did I? Why, I should get more sleep. Sorry Sidney.

AC: Are you in heaven?

AJL: There's no heaven, and I'm there.

AC: What is it like to be in heaven?

AJL: Being in heaven isn't like anything, really. It's just another excuse for being nothing at all.

AC: Who broke up the Beatles?

AJL: When we read all this shit about the breakup in the paper, Yoko and I were laughing, because the cartoon is this: four guys on a stage with a spotlight on them. Second picture: three guys onstage, breezing out of the spotlight. Third picture: one guy standing there shouting, "I'm leaving." We were all out of it, OK?

AC: I thought that Yoko broke you guys up.

AJL: Whatever gave you that idea?

AC: Just give me some truth.

AJL: ... and Winnie the Pooh.

AC: Are you the walrus?

AJL: Mary Poppins was the walrus.

AC: How's Yoko?

AJL: Fine from what I can see. Yoko is a very strong woman. Had she passed away before me I'd never have been as strong.

AC: Do you help Sean with his music?

AJL: Yeah, I like to help Sean with his music as much as possible. Do you?

AC: He doesn't ask me to.

AJL: I get it. He doesn't ask you to.

AC: That's right.

AJL: I like to get it right.

AC: I like it like that.

AJL: What was that? I want you to explain it to me. That's what musicians want.

AC: All you need is love.

AJL: That's a rather sweeping generalization.