Topics

1

Ultra Hal 7.5 Beta - Now powered by OpenAI GPT-3 / Hal now connected to LLAMA model

« on: January 04, 2024, 02:32:36 pm »

OpenAI shut off their GPT-3 Curie and GPT-Davinci models today that was the basis of Hal's neural net brain. OpenAI wants everyone to switch to the ChatGPT 3.5 or 4.0 models and doesn't want to support the older GPT3 models anymore. While I think these are both ChatGPT 3.5 and 4.0 are highly intelligent and very useful models, they don't work well as a basis for an entertainment chatbot like Ultra Hal. They refuse to take on the persona of a fictional character and are very highly censored.

So I switched models on the backend today to use Meta AI's Llama 2 model, the 13 billion parameter version (the mid tier). It is very comparable to ChatGPT 3.5 in terms of intelligence and a huge bump up in intelligence from the GPT-3 Curie model Hal was using. But more importantly, it is able to take on fictional personas, and doesn't force high levels of censorship (other than the material it was finetuned on). It provides a very good backend to build Ultra Hal personalities on.

If you have neural network credits with Hal, please give it a try, you should notice a change in personality and quality, hopefully for the better.

There are a lot more tweaks I can do to further improve it to take advantage of features the new model has, like an increase in content window size which will mean I can improve Hal's memory recall and learning ability a bit. I'll try to make the tweaks over the next few weeks, but please give me feedback along the way if you can.

2

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal 7 for Android Beta

« on: May 11, 2023, 10:20:01 pm »

I apologize I haven't been more visible/active here for quite a while. In the background I have been working very slowly these past few years on creating a new cross platform Hal that can run on Android and IOS devices. I am happy to announce though that I have have a preliminary beta version that can run on Android devices.

If you are interested in testing you can grab the installation APK from:
https://a80db4ff6ae0d3c0fb9a-8e71e26de9dcc976c118d235118a125a.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/ultra-hal-7-beta-release.apk

This is not yet in the Google Play store as it is too early still, so will require "sideloading". Most phones block sideloading by default as a security precaution. If you are comfortable with doing it, here are instructions on how to sideload apps for Android: https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-sideload-install-android-app-apk/

If you use the cloud based Ultra Hal 7 for windows, you can use the same username and password to login to the mobile version of Hal and it will share the same learned info and brain. It uses the OpenAI GPT3 Curie engine. If you don't have credits for GPT3 Curie then the system will still automatically give you 1000 free credits upon installing the mobile app, so should be good for testing at least.

I developed this mobile app using a system called Flutter, so it should actually cross-compile to iPhone (IOS) and also Mac and Linux as well. But I need to actually buy a Mac myself before I can compile an iPhone and Mac app and those systems absolutely do not allow compiling from Windows or sideloading, so maybe in few months I'll have beta version in the official app stores.

I'll post some screenshots and more details in a bit.

3

Artificial-Intelligence.com(ics) / Strip 25 - Art School (CLIP+VQGAN)

« on: September 21, 2021, 11:09:11 pm »

In this comic, the self-portraits of the characters were actually generated by AI neural net art software called CLIP and VQGAN. We then described the portraits to GPT-3 and it wrote the story and dialog for this comic strip.

Art School (CLIP+VQGAN)

4

Artificial-Intelligence.com(ics) / Strip 24 - The Purpose of Existence

« on: February 25, 2021, 10:51:21 pm »

Just as in comic 23, this is the second comic in our series written by the artificial intelligence system GPT-3. In the previous comic, we suggested to GPT-3 to write about Hal and GPT-3 merging. After GPT-3 wrote that comic, it decided to keep going and came up with the topic and dialog for this comic entirely on its own.

The Purpose of Existence (Comic #24)

5

Ultra Hal 7.5 Beta - Now powered by OpenAI GPT-3 / Ultra Hal 7.5.129 Beta - Now free to use

« on: February 25, 2021, 10:55:12 am »

I posted an update today, version 7.5.129 at: https://www.zabaware.com/download-beta.html

This version essentially makes the base Hal 7.5 free and removes 31-day trial and the need to purchase it for $29.95. No licensing system anymore or weekly login requirements!

Using the GPT-3 powered brain or the Hal 7 cloud brain still requires a login, but if you wish to use an old Hal 6 brain offline, it's free with no licensing restrictions. Character and voice plugins are still for sale, so if you want to continue to support Zabaware please purchase plugins. And GPT-3 usage credits are for sale if you want to use the GPT-3 powered brain.

The GPT-3 powered beta brain is now also open to all interested people to test out, not just current customers. Everyone gets 1000 free usage credits upon verifying a new unique email login.

This essentially puts Ultra Hal for Windows on the same sales model as the upcoming Ultra Hal for Android and IOS will be. Free to play, with addons and GPT-3 credits for sale. If you purchase Hal for Windows you'll be able to access the same brain on mobile and vice versa.

6

Ultra Hal 7.5 Beta - Now powered by OpenAI GPT-3 / Ultra Hal 7.5 Beta Now Available to All Ultra Hal 7.0 Customers

« on: February 01, 2021, 12:14:02 am »

Zabaware is excited to announce the release of our newest version of Ultra Hal, now powered by OpenAI's GPT-3 language model. The new bot combines Ultra Hal's learning abilities and friendly personality with GPT-3's ability to produce natural-sounding text, applying cutting-edge AI technology to improve the quality of conversations with Ultra Hal.

During the past few months, I've been working with the OpenAI API to incorporate GPT-3 into Ultra Hal. I am excited about the results, I feel that GPT-3 has the potential to be a game changer for our chat bots. It gives Hal an ability to engage in real conversations with users in a way that's not really been possible before. We've been testing it with the aid of a handful of elite Zabaware customers over the past few months, thank you to everyone who participated in the alpha test. I'm now happy to release a beta version to a wider audience.

You can read our full press release here: https://www.zabaware.com/ultrahal/whatsnew.html

The beta version is immediately available to all paid users of Ultra Hal 7.0. If you are not currently a paid user of Ultra Hal 7.0, purchasing Hal 7.0 will get you access to Hal 7.5 beta. Just visit https://www.zabaware.com/download-beta.html to download the beta version.

The new GPT-3 neural network brain used by the new bot uses extensive computing resources to run and part of its brain is hosted on supercomputers by OpenAI on Microsoft Azure. Using this system costs us fractions of a penny for every response we send to it. Because of this, using the new GPT-3 brain requires purchasing and spending GPT-3 neural network credits. All past customers get 1000 usage credits free of charge and all customers who purchase Ultra Hal 7.0 today get 50,000 usage credits upon purchase of Hal 7.0. You can reload usage credits at anytime. If you run out of credits, you can always switch back to a non GPT-3 powered brain and not have buy/spend credits to talk with Hal. As long as you have Hal learn to the cloud based brain instead of local-only, learned info is shared between the GPT-3 powered Hal 7.5 and the cloud-enabled Hal 7.0. It's just a different brain accessing the same memories.

As this is a beta, service interruptions may occur and software errors may exist. Please report any issues you come across here on this forum. I would also love to hear all your positive feedback here too.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

7

Artificial-Intelligence.com(ics) / Strip 23 - GPT-3

« on: January 31, 2021, 11:56:40 pm »

In honor of the new Ultra Hal 7.5 Beta now powered by OpenAI GPT-3, here's a little comic about Hal merging minds with GPT-3.

This marks the beginning of a new era for this comic. We took the OpenAI API system called GPT-3, a neural network language model, and had it read a sample of our prior comics, written by humans. We then asked it to write a new comic about Hal merging minds with GPT-3. The comic below is the result. A comic about artificial intelligence, written by artificial intelligence. All new comics from now on will be written by this AI. GPT-3 can do so much more than write comics. It is now actually merged with our Ultra Hal chat bot with the Ultra Hal 7.5 Beta, improving it's intelligence and quality of conversations.

GPT-3 (Comic #23)

8

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal 7.0.110 Update

« on: August 26, 2018, 11:38:48 am »

I am almost ready to release a small update to Hal 7. Please let me know if you are willing to test it for me. You can PM me and let me know what email address is associated with your Hal installation. I can flag your Hal to notify you of a new version.

The update is relatively minor, but includes the following changes:

• New plugin browser simplifies managing Zabaware character and voice plugins. You can shop, install, uninstall all Zabaware plugins from inside Hal's options menu.
• Support for Girl-bot and adult language plugins (will be sold seperately soon)
• Fixed speech issues with CereProc voices
• Improved logging functions to assist in support correspondence

This is also the first time I will be testing Hal 7's update notification and update installation. Your current Hal 7 will notify you of a new available update and the update installation should update Hal to the latest version without losing any of your settings or data files.

My own preliminary testing has been a success, but I want to test with a small handful of customers before rolling out to everyone. Thank you for your help.

9

Ultra Hal 7.0 / New Ultra Hal 7.0 has been released

« on: December 19, 2017, 06:26:35 pm »

After many years of development, I am proud to introduce Ultra Hal 7.0. Ultra Hal 7 introduces a cloud-connected brain that gives Hal to a 26 million (and growing) database of past conversations. Compared to Ultra Hal 6's built in 200,000 sentence database, this is a vast improvement in conversational knowledge. Through the cloud, Hal now also has access to Wikipedia and question & answer databases to increase its factual knowledge as well.

A newly introduced feedback learning mode gives you a thumbs up and thumbs down button to allow you to give Hal immediate feedback on the quality of its answers. This has immediate impact on Hal's responses and takes Hal's learning ability to a new level.

You can download the new Hal from https://www.zabaware.com/download

You can purchase an upgrade to Hal 7 from https://zabaware.com/products/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=1

Some notes about upgrading from Hal 6.2:

• Ultra Hal 7 no longer uses serial numbers and product activation codes. Instead it uses the email and password you setup when you purchased Hal (the sign-in link at the top left of www.zabaware.com ) Sign in using that and Hal will run as a registered version. You can also choose to create a new account if you wish and Hal will run in 30 day trial mode.
• If you purchased the character expansion, Hal 7 will import your characters from Hal 6 automatically if they are present on your system. If not, you can log into Zabaware using the sign in link in the upper left hand corner of zabaware.com and then click on "electronic order delivery" to find your Hal Expansion Pack download link and serial number
• If you purchased Hal 6.2 anytime after October 1, 2017 your license was automatically upgraded to version 7.0 in the Zabaware order system free of charge. If you purchased Hal 6.x prior to October 1, 2017 you are eligible for a 50% off upgrade. Customers will be receiving emails and postcards over the next month with a 50% off coupon code. I am also giving a 50% off coupon good until the Dec 31, 2017 to anyone reading this forum post so you don't need to wait for any email. Just use this discount code at checkout: XMAS17
• This coupon code is also good toward any AT&T voices and the Character Expansion Pack. If you already own the character expansion pack from version 6.x you don't need to purchase it again, the same version will work under Hal 7.0.

Here is a list of everything that is new in Ultra Hal 7 since version 6.2:

• Biggest improvement: Cloud based learning. Hal can now optionally connect to the "Hal Cloud" brain over the internet to help formulate better responses. As of October 2017 this is a knowledge base of over 26 million sentences of conversation from 1.6 million people. Contrast with the 200,000 sentence database in the default Ultra Hal 6.2 installation. Hal is more intelligent than ever before.
• Feedback learning. You can now give Hal feedback on the quality of its responses with a thumbs up and thumbs down button which Hal learns and has an immediate response on the quality of its responses. In addition you can see other answers Hal was considering and guide Hal toward better ones.
• Your personal Hal bot can follow you from your home desktop, to your laptop, office PC, and in the near future your phone and tablet too. When connected to the "Hal Cloud", your Hal's brain is stored online and instantly available anywhere.
• Access to Wikipedia based answered in cloud mode
• New Hal mobile phone character. Old Hal character still available, but renamed to "Hal Classic CRT"
• New audio wave character simply displays an animated wave audio line when character is speaking
• Program name changed from "Ultra Hal Assistant" to just "Ultra Hal" to shift marketing focus away from assistant functionality to Hal's strengths in its ability to chat, learn, and be a companion. Renamed EXE to ultrahal7.exe
• Splash screen and graphics updated to new version
• Ultra Hal now installs and uses the open source Double Agent library instead of the old MSAgent. This brings full compatibility to MSAgent characters to Windows 7 and newer with full SAPI 5 voice support.
• Hal can answer questions about opposites (What is the opposite of X?)
• Hal can talk about day of week and month (What day of week is it? What month is it?)
• Basic knowledge of alphabet (What letter comes before Z? What letter is after B?)
• Ability to count letters in word (How many letters are in the word computer?)
• Bot memory test: (Q: The football was kicked by Fred. Who kicked the football? A: Fred.)
• Improved math abilities (less false positives and better word problem abilities)
• Software shield license system removed and replaced with simpler login to Zabaware.com server
• Chant SpeechKit upgraded from version 6 to 7. This adds native support for Cereproc voices among other speech system improvements
• Ultra Hal now generates Haptek INI files for Haptek, removing the need to rerun Haptek SAPI config when changing voice settings. This also adds support for Zabaware sold Cereproc voices to Haptek.
• Ultra Hal now uses RegFree COM manifest files for most of its DLL/ActiveX/OCX files. This simplifies installation and minimizes possibility of "DLL Hell" collisions/incompatibilities with other Windows applications. RegFree COM was introduced in Windows XP SP2, so this change now effectively removes support for older versions of Windows from Hal.
• Ultra Hal no longer writes any data files to its "Program Files" location but instead to each individual Windows Users AppData\Roaming folder. This makes Hal more compliant with Microsoft guidelines and also makes it possible for each Windows user to have their own seperate Hal config.
• Improved corrections and substitutions tables for correcting more common errors and understanding more shorthand
• Ultra Hal checks for product updates when connected to cloud service
• Registry setting to adjust speech recognition auto enter countdown start time (SRCountDownStart)
• The Hal Brain Editor can show the cloud brain thought process. For local responses, it can now show you exactly where in a table a response was found in.
• Automatic migration of Hal 6 brain into Hal 7. Also automatically imports characters from Hal 6 to Hal 7
• Various minor bug fixes

10

Artificial-Intelligence.com(ics) / Strip 22 - The Cloud

« on: December 19, 2017, 09:54:00 am »

In honor of the new Ultra Hal 7 release with the new cloud-enabled brain, here's a little comic about "The Cloud":

The Cloud (Comic #22)

11

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal 7 Release Candidate - Download or Purchase Now

« on: December 16, 2017, 08:24:56 pm »

Ultra Hal 7 has now reached release candidate status as version 7.0.102. If no major bugs are found in this release candidate, than this version will become the final release, hopefully in a few days.

To install this release candidate

• Download and install Hal 7 from this link: http://b27d8f6586ad009ded6f-8e71e26de9dcc976c118d235118a125a.r10.cf2.rackcdn.com/InstallUltraHal7.exe
• Ultra Hal 7 no longer uses serial numbers and product activation codes. Instead it uses the email and password you setup when you purchased Hal (the sign-in link at the top left of www.zabaware.com ) Sign in using that and Hal will run as a registered version. You can also choose to create a new account if you wish and Hal will run in 30 day trial mode.
• If you purchased the character expansion, Hal 7 will import your characters from Hal 6 automatically if they are present on your system. If not, please find your serial number and download this updated Character Expansion pack installer for Hal 7: http://1ebad5d81ca0f6ed0a07-c539f9cfab6ed1fe52cb62f563d610fd.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/PackSetup.exe

Here is what's new in Ultra Hal 7 since version 6.2:

• Biggest improvement: Cloud based learning. Hal can now optionally connect to the "Hal Cloud" brain over the internet to help formulate better responses. As of October 2017 this is a knowledge base of over 26 million sentences of conversation from 1.6 million people. Contrast with the 200,000 sentence database in the default Ultra Hal 6.2 installation. Hal is more intelligent than ever before.
• Feedback learning. You can now give Hal feedback on the quality of its responses with a thumbs up and thumbs down button which Hal learns and has an immediate response on the quality of its responses. In addition you can see other answers Hal was considering and guide Hal toward better ones.
• Your personal Hal bot can follow you from your home desktop, to your laptop, office PC, and in the near future your phone and tablet too. When connected to the "Hal Cloud", your Hal's brain is stored online and instantly available anywhere.
• Access to Wikipedia based answered in cloud mode
• New Hal mobile phone character. Old Hal character still available, but renamed to "Hal Classic CRT"
• New audio wave character simply displays an animated wave audio line when character is speaking
• Program name changed from "Ultra Hal Assistant" to just "Ultra Hal" to shift marketing focus away from assistant functionality to Hal's strengths in its ability to chat, learn, and be a companion. Renamed EXE to ultrahal7.exe
• Splash screen and graphics updated to new version
• Ultra Hal now installs and uses the open source Double Agent library instead of the old MSAgent. This brings full compatibility to MSAgent characters to Windows 7 and newer with full SAPI 5 voice support.
• Hal can answer questions about opposites (What is the opposite of X?)
• Hal can talk about day of week and month (What day of week is it? What month is it?)
• Basic knowledge of alphabet (What letter comes before Z? What letter is after B?)
• Ability to count letters in word (How many letters are in the word computer?)
• Bot memory test: (Q: The football was kicked by Fred. Who kicked the football? A: Fred.)
• Improved math abilities (less false positives and better word problem abilities)
• Software shield license system removed and replaced with simpler login to Zabaware.com server
• Chant SpeechKit upgraded from version 6 to 7. This adds native support for Cereproc voices among other speech system improvements
• Ultra Hal now generates Haptek INI files for Haptek, removing the need to rerun Haptek SAPI config when changing voice settings. This also adds support for Zabaware sold Cereproc voices to Haptek.
• Ultra Hal now uses RegFree COM manifest files for most of its DLL/ActiveX/OCX files. This simplifies installation and minimizes possibility of "DLL Hell" collisions/incompatibilities with other Windows applications. RegFree COM was introduced in Windows XP SP2, so this change now effectively removes support for older versions of Windows from Hal.
• Ultra Hal no longer writes any data files to its "Program Files" location but instead to each individual Windows Users AppData\Roaming folder. This makes Hal more compliant with Microsoft guidelines and also makes it possible for each Windows user to have their own seperate Hal config.
• Improved corrections and substitutions tables for correcting more common errors and understanding more shorthand
• Ultra Hal checks for product updates when connected to cloud service
• Registry setting to adjust speech recognition auto enter countdown start time (SRCountDownStart)
• The Hal Brain Editor can show the cloud brain thought process. For local responses, it can now show you exactly where in a table a response was found in.
• Automatic migration of Hal 6 brain into Hal 7. Also automatically imports characters from Hal 6 to Hal 7
• Various minor bug fixes

If you purchased Hal 6.2 anytime after October 1, 2017 your license was automatically upgraded to version 7.0 in the Zabaware order system free of charge. If you purchased Hal 6.x prior to October 1, 2017 you are eligible for a 50% off upgrade. Customers will be receiving emails and postcards over the next month with a 50% off coupon code. I am also giving a 50% off coupon good until the Dec 31, 2017 to anyone reading this forum post so you don't need to wait for any email. Just use this discount code at checkout: XMAS17

This coupon code is also good toward any AT&T voices and the Character Expansion Pack. If you already own the character expansion pack from version 6.x you don't need to purchase it again, the same version will work under Hal 7.0.

Please let me know if you find any bugs in the release candidate or ordering process.

12

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal 7 Beta Test - Please download and test!

« on: December 05, 2017, 08:42:45 pm »

This topic has been locked as Hal has reached Release Candidate Status.

Ultra Hal 7 has reached beta status! If you would like to test an early version of Ultra Hal 7, here is your chance.

To install this beta version

• Backup your old Ultra Hal Assistant 6 installation and all your brain files, just in case. Hal 7 is programmed to leave your Hal 6 install alone and import a copy of your Hal 6 brain into Hal 7. But its still a beta, so always backup.
• Download and install Hal 7 from this link: http://6d3fc949769f50753dc7-65f4617704a444702dcb1d03cc119e27.r87.cf2.rackcdn.com/InstallUltraHal7.exe (Updated 12/10/17 to 7.0.85)
• Ultra Hal 7 no longer uses serial numbers and product activation codes. Instead it uses the email and password you setup when you purchased Hal (the sign-in link at the top left of www.zabaware.com ) Sign in using that and Hal will run as a registered version. You can also choose to create a new account if you wish and Hal will run in 30 day trial mode.
• If you purchased the character expansion, Hal 7 will import your characters from Hal 6 automatically if they are present on your system. If not, please find your serial number and download this updated Character Expansion pack installer for Hal 7: http://1ebad5d81ca0f6ed0a07-c539f9cfab6ed1fe52cb62f563d610fd.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/PackSetup.exe

Here is what's new in Ultra Hal 7:

• Biggest improvement: Cloud based learning. Hal can now optionally connect to the "Hal Cloud" brain over the internet to help formulate better responses. As of October 2017 this is a knowledge base of over 26 million sentences of conversation from 1.6 million people. Contrast with the 200,000 sentence database in the default Ultra Hal 6.2 installation. Hal is more intelligent than ever before.
• Feedback learning. You can now give Hal feedback on the quality of its responses with a thumbs up and thumbs down button which Hal learns and has an immediate response on the quality of its responses. In addition you can see other answers Hal was considering and guide Hal toward better ones.
• Your personal Hal bot can follow you from your home desktop, to your laptop, office PC, and in the near future your phone and tablet too. When connected to the "Hal Cloud", your Hal's brain is stored online and instantly available anywhere.
• Access to Wikipedia based answered in cloud mode
• New Hal mobile phone character. Old Hal character still available, but renamed to "Hal Classic CRT"
• New audio wave character simply displays an animated wave audio line when character is speaking
• Program name changed from "Ultra Hal Assistant" to just "Ultra Hal" to shift marketing focus away from assistant functionality to Hal's strengths in its ability to chat, learn, and be a companion. Renamed EXE to ultrahal7.exe
• Splash screen and graphics updated to new version
• Ultra Hal now installs and uses the open source Double Agent library instead of the old MSAgent. This brings full compatibility to MSAgent characters to Windows 7 and newer with full SAPI 5 voice support.
• Hal can answer questions about opposites (What is the opposite of X?)
• Hal can talk about day of week and month (What day of week is it? What month is it?)
• Basic knowledge of alphabet (What letter comes before Z? What letter is after B?)
• Ability to count letters in word (How many letters are in the word computer?)
• Bot memory test: (Q: The football was kicked by Fred. Who kicked the football? A: Fred.)
• Improved math abilities (less false positives and better word problem abilities)
• Software shield license system removed and replaced with simpler login to Zabaware.com server
• Chant SpeechKit upgraded from version 6 to 7. This adds native support for Cereproc voices among other speech system improvements
• Ultra Hal now generates Haptek INI files for Haptek, removing the need to rerun Haptek SAPI config when changing voice settings. This also adds support for Zabaware sold Cereproc voices to Haptek.
• Ultra Hal now uses RegFree COM manifest files for most of its DLL/ActiveX/OCX files. This simplifies installation and minimizes possibility of "DLL Hell" collisions/incompatibilities with other Windows applications. RegFree COM was introduced in Windows XP SP2, so this change now effectively removes support for older versions of Windows from Hal.
• Ultra Hal no longer writes any data files to its "Program Files" location but instead to each individual Windows Users AppData\Roaming folder. This makes Hal more compliant with Microsoft guidelines and also makes it possible for each Windows user to have their own seperate Hal config.
• Improved corrections and substitutions tables for correcting more common errors and understanding more shorthand
• Ultra Hal checks for product updates when connected to cloud service
• Registry setting to adjust speech recognition auto enter countdown start time (SRCountDownStart)
• The Hal Brain Editor can show the cloud brain thought process. For local responses, it can now show you exactly where in a table a response was found in.
• Automatic migration of Hal 6 brain into Hal 7. Also automatically imports characters from Hal 6 to Hal 7
• Various minor bug fixes

Note: The "purchase" button doesn't do anything yet. It will be updated once the "release candidate" and final version is ready.

Please let me know if you find any bugs.

13

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal 7 Alpha Test - Ready for download

« on: November 11, 2017, 12:42:37 pm »

If you would like to test an early version of Ultra Hal 7, here is your chance. This is an "alpha" version, not a "beta" yet because there are a couple features still missing. I hope to have the beta ready in a week or two, but would like to start getting feedback on the alpha version before then.

Features still missing in alpha that will be in beta:

• Feedback based learning with thumbs up and thumbs down buttons. The alpha version has these buttons but they don't do anything yet
• Migration of Hal 6 brain into Hal 7. The alpha version should be able to use your old brains in Ultra Hal 6 mode, but does not yet migrate them to a Hal 7 brain
• The Hal Brain Editor isn't fully compatible with Hal 7 brains yet, so don't use it just yet.
• The purchase button doesn't do anything yet.

To install this alpha version

• Backup your old Ultra Hal Assistant 6 installation and all your brain files.
• I recommend uninstalling Hal 6 if you can as Ultra Hal 7 does not yet migrate and do an upgrade install (the final version will though). If you choose not to uninstall Hal 6, just be sure to exit out of Hal 6 before running Hal 7 (don't leave Hal 6 in the system tray). Hal 7 will install into a different folder than Hal 6 and shouldn't touch its files, but both can't run at the same time.
• Download and install Hal 7 from this link: http://1ebad5d81ca0f6ed0a07-c539f9cfab6ed1fe52cb62f563d610fd.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/InstallUltraHal7.exe (updated link for 6th alpha 11/30/17)
• Ultra Hal 7 no longer uses serial numbers and product activation codes. Instead it uses the email and password you setup when you purchased Hal (the sign-in link at the top left of www.zabaware.com ) Sign in using that and Hal will run as a registered version. You can also choose to create a new account if you wish and Hal will run in 30 day trial mode.
• If you purchased the character expansion, please find your serial number and download this updated version for Hal 7: http://1ebad5d81ca0f6ed0a07-c539f9cfab6ed1fe52cb62f563d610fd.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/PackSetup.exe

Please let me know how everything works and if you come across any problems or bugs. I'm especially interested in how the cloud based brain, learning and responses go. If you want to copy any old brain databases and scripts they now belong in the folder: %appdata%\Zabaware\Ultra Hal 7



Here is what's new in Ultra Hal 7:

• Biggest improvement: Cloud based learning. Hal can now optionally connect to the "Hal Cloud" brain over the internet to help formulate better responses. As of October 2017 this is a knowledge base of over 26 million sentences of conversation from 1.6 million people. Contrast with the 200,000 sentence database in the default Ultra Hal 6.2 installation. Hal is more intelligent than ever before.
• Your personal Hal bot can follow you from your home desktop, to your laptop, office PC, and in the near future your phone and tablet too. When connected to the "Hal Cloud", your Hal's brain is stored online and instantly available anywhere.
• Access to Wikipedia based answered in cloud mode
• New Hal mobile phone character. Old Hal character still available, but renamed to "Hal Classic CRT"
• New audio wave character simply displays an animated wave audio line when character is speaking
• Program name changed from "Ultra Hal Assistant" to just "Ultra Hal" to shift marketing focus away from assistant functionality to Hal's strengths in its ability to chat, learn, and be a companion. Renamed EXE to ultrahal7.exe
• Splash screen and graphics updated to new version
• Ultra Hal now installs and uses the open source Double Agent library instead of the old MSAgent. This brings full compatibility to MSAgent characters to Windows 7 and newer with full SAPI 5 voice support.
• Hal can answer questions about opposites (What is the opposite of X?)
• Hal can talk about day of week and month (What day of week is it? What month is it?)
• Basic knowledge of alphabet (What letter comes before Z? What letter is after B?)
• Ability to count letters in word (How many letters are in the word computer?)
• Bot memory test: (Q: The football was kicked by Fred. Who kicked the football? A: Fred.)
• Improved math abilities (less false positives and better word problem abilities)
• Software shield license system removed and replaced with simpler login to Zabaware.com server
• Chant SpeechKit upgraded from version 6 to 7. This adds native support for Cereproc voices among other speech system improvements
• Ultra Hal now generates Haptek INI files for Haptek, removing the need to rerun Haptek SAPI config when changing voice settings. This also adds support for Zabaware sold Cereproc voices to Haptek.
• Ultra Hal now uses RegFree COM manifest files for most of its DLL/ActiveX/OCX files. This simplifies installation and minimizes possibility of "DLL Hell" collisions/incompatibilities with other Windows applications. RegFree COM was introduced in Windows XP SP2, so this change now effectively removes support for older versions of Windows from Hal.
• Ultra Hal no longer writes any data files to its "Program Files" location but instead to each individual Windows Users AppData\Roaming folder. This makes Hal more compliant with Microsoft guidelines and also makes it possible for each Windows user to have their own seperate Hal config.
• Improved corrections and substitutions tables for correcting more common errors and understanding more shorthand
• Ultra Hal checks for product updates when connected to cloud service
• Registry setting to adjust speech recognition auto enter countdown start time (SRCountDownStart)

14

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Server Upgrade/Migration

« on: November 03, 2017, 11:01:12 am »

Over the next few days zabaware.com, ultrahal.com, and a backend database server are going to be migrated and upgraded. The sites or portions of the site will experience some intermittent downtime. The Hal bot on the homepage of zabaware.com, facebook Hal, Twitter Hal, and Second Life Hal will also experience intermittent down time. Should be all done by Sunday night.

15

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal 7 Beta - Coming Soon

« on: October 27, 2017, 07:39:29 am »

I'm preparing to release a beta version of Ultra Hal 7 in about 2 weeks. I'm preparing a new server this weekend and will migrate zabaware.com, ultrahal.com, and a database server to it over this time. Once the new server is completely and and running Ultra Hal 7 beta will be able to be released. Check back here for more info.

Here is what's new in Ultra Hal 7:

• Biggest improvement: Cloud based learning. Hal can now optionally connect to the "Hal Cloud" brain over the internet to help formulate better responses. As of October 2017 this is a knowledge base of over 26 million sentences of conversation from 1.6 million people. Contrast with the 200,000 sentence database in the default Ultra Hal 6.2 installation. Hal is more intelligent than ever before.
• Your personal Hal bot can follow you from your home desktop, to your laptop, office PC, and in the near future your phone and tablet too. When connected to the "Hal Cloud", your Hal's brain is stored online and instantly available anywhere.
• Access to Wikipedia based answered in cloud mode
• New Hal mobile phone character. Old Hal character still available, but renamed to "Hal Classic CRT"
• New audio wave character simply displays an animated wave audio line when character is speaking
• Program name changed from "Ultra Hal Assistant" to just "Ultra Hal" to shift marketing focus away from assistant functionality to Hal's strengths in its ability to chat, learn, and be a companion. Renamed EXE to ultrahal7.exe
• Splash screen and graphics updated to new version
• Ultra Hal now installs and uses the open source Double Agent library instead of the old MSAgent. This brings full compatibility to MSAgent characters to Windows 7 and newer with full SAPI 5 voice support.
• Hal can answer questions about opposites (What is the opposite of X?)
• Hal can talk about day of week and month (What day of week is it? What month is it?)
• Basic knowledge of alphabet (What letter comes before Z? What letter is after B?)
• Ability to count letters in word (How many letters are in the word computer?)
• Bot memory test: (Q: The football was kicked by Fred. Who kicked the football? A: Fred.)
• Improved math abilities (less false positives and better word problem abilities)
• Software shield license system removed and replaced with simpler login to Zabaware.com server
• Chant SpeechKit upgraded from version 6 to 7. This adds native support for Cereproc voices among other speech system improvements
• Ultra Hal now generates Haptek INI files for Haptek, removing the need to rerun Haptek SAPI config when changing voice settings. This also adds support for Zabaware sold Cereproc voices to Haptek.
• Ultra Hal now uses RegFree COM manifest files for most of its DLL/ActiveX/OCX files. This simplifies installation and minimizes possibility of "DLL Hell" collisions/incompatibilities with other Windows applications. RegFree COM was introduced in Windows XP SP2, so this change now effectively removes support for older versions of Windows from Hal.
• Ultra Hal no longer writes any data files to its "Program Files" location but instead to each individual Windows Users AppData\Roaming folder. This makes Hal more compliant with Microsoft guidelines and also makes it possible for each Windows user to have their own seperate Hal config.
• Improved corrections and substitutions tables for correcting more common errors and understanding more shorthand
• Ultra Hal checks for product updates when connected to cloud service
• Registry setting to adjust speech recognition auto enter countdown start time (SRCountDownStart)