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  • The Paris Review

    Absurdist Dialogues with Siri

    by Mariana Lin Feb 12, 2018 4 minutes

    Nagg: Me sugar-plum!
    Clov: There’s a rat in the kitchen!
    Hamm: A rat! Are there still rats?
    Clov: In the kitchen there’s one.
    Hamm: And you haven’t exterminated him?
    Clov: Half. You disturbed us.
    Hamm: He can’t get away?
    Clov: No.
    Hamm: You’ll finish him later. Let us pray to God.
    Clov: Again!
    Nagg: Me sugar-plum!

    —Samuel Beckett, Endgame

    For many years now, I have sat down daily to script lines for AI characters such as Siri and Sophia. It’s an unusual task. First, it involves channeling the personality of a nonhuman living among humans. Then, even more confounding, one must trace the ideal conversation between human and robot. In voice interface design, this is called the “happy path.” And the

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