How to chat with historical figures using AI

If you instruct an AI replica of Abraham Lincoln to tell you "about the Civil War", you will receive a response that resembles an encyclopedia entry. If you want to engage in a truly interesting conversation with Abe, you will need to take a different approach.

Ask for a position, not a summary

A character-centric chatbot is at its best when it is prompted to choose a position. For instance: "Summarize the Gettysburg Address" is a poor way to start a conversation with Abe Lincoln. "Which line of the Gettysburg Address would you cut, and why?" is a much better way to start a dialogue with Abe, because it forces the bot to make a judgement call, and judgements are where the replica's crafted persona can shine through.

The same approach works with all the bots on the Chatbuddy platform. Ask Darwin what he got wrong about evolution rather than what he discovered about the process. Ask Cleopatra how she would handle a negotiation that is going badly. Ask Sun Tzu which of his own maxims is most often misapplied by people.

Give the chatbot something to react to

Character chatbots respond better to contextual material. Set the scene by uploading a relevant photo, or describing a situation you are actually in. The more detail you provide, the more relevant and enjoyable the conversation will be.

Follow the conversational thread and branch out

Ask follow up questions, share ideas of your own, and don't be afraid to explore territory that is new or surprising to you. It's ok to disagree and argue, and the more effort you put into the experience the more you will extract from it.