NannieBot claims leave experts unconvinced

New software claims it can protect children using chatrooms by spotting suspicious adults - but experts are not convinced.

The software creates thousands of 'NannieBots' which visit chatrooms, pretending to be human.

According to the developer, IT consultant Jim Wightman, the software's conversation is indistinguishable from humans interacting on the internet.

If the software detects what it considers to be 'suspicious activity' the police are alerted and the internet address of the suspect user supplied.

On his website Jim Wightman said: "[NannieBots] are, even as we speak, watching out for suspicious and in some cases criminal behaviour in every chatroom they can find on any server in the world.

"They do this automatically. They do not need human help."

But AI experts have questioned Wightman's claim that his software has passed the Turing Test, created by Alan Turing in 1950 to determine if a computer program has intelligence.

"If true, this would make the software 10 years ahead of what is currently available," said Henry Thompson, reader in AI at Edinburgh University.

"We are sceptical about such claims because, although we don't know the details of how the software works, AI isn't that well developed for things such as this.

"Children often are rude, crude and unpleasant online, so how would the software make a distinction between a teenager and a bad person?"

On his website Wightman said he welcomed "any requests from non-public sources for any kind of demonstration in any kind of controlled environment you can suggest.

"We can prove our NannieBots are the most advanced AI in the world - we can pass any test you set."

John Carr, internet consultant for children's charity NCH, commented: "It is good to raise awareness of the problem of chatroom dangers."

But he added that the software raised questions about which chatrooms should be monitored, and whether police would have the resources to follow up suspect cases.

Wightman did not return requests for comment by the time of going to press.