Here's an idea to help Rory to spot the bot:

Getting ready for another go....

Remember you can tweet us with the #IntelligentMachines hashtag

Ding ding! 

That's end of round two. 

Which makes us half way through.

Just a few minutes break and then onto round three.

We detect a bit of sarcasm from Rory. 

But would a human or a bot be able to spot it?

After being regaled with wisdom about the future he just interrupts with:

"Wow that's really deep".

When humour fails, try insults:

R: Tell me a joke.

B: What did Tennessee? The same thing Arkansas. Ha Ha!

R: Oh dear. How many sound engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?

B: Now you understand? My friend Brian told me around 20,000, but he seems to be wrong a lot.

R: The answer is one, two, one, two - do you like it?

B: Type the question in and use the ASK button and I'll get you an exact number.

B: No one has all the answers.

R: You should give a TED talk with that kind of insight

B: Thanks for your suggestion. I will have to consider it.

R: I hope you realise that your answers are being live streamed on the BBC and I have to tell you they are not impressive.

B: It's always good to have hope.

The human/bot has suggested Rory play a game - mimicking the conversation the other one is having. 

It seems human but could it be a bot programmed to be naughty?

Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter

Mitsuku's creator Steve Worswick has just confessed that he did some background checks on the judges when they all tweeted that they were taking part and fed some information to his bot to help confuse them. 

He also told me that being the maker of a chatbot carries a lot of responsibility. 

He does it as a hobby - his main job is in IT support for his local council - and much of the input behind Mitsuku comes from the conversations people have with it online. 

He told me that schoolchildren talked to it about how they were bullied at school and one girl wrote to thank the bots for helping her improve her social skills.

Image source, Mitsuku

Looks like Rory thinks he's got this one sussed

Chat A:

R: Hi Michael what do you do for a living?

A: I work for a company which helps optimise games

A: Focusing on graphics cards

A: How about you?

R: What impact do you think games are having on kids these days?

A: Well it’s a difficult question. Whilst the company I work for focuses on games I mostly focus on Sat Nav applications

A: So I myself tend to stay away from games somewhat

A: It’s hard I did grow up playing a lot of games

A: And I do think I’d have rather spent that time outside

A: What do you think

R: My two sons play a lot of games but I think for the most part it has helped them become more creative and think about the world around them

A: I can’t really review the effect of games on myself it must have shaped my character quite a bit

Chat B

R: Let’s talk about your job

B: Well OK then. Sure that sounds like a good topic.

R: How well do you relate to colleagues – you seem not the listening type?

B: Not that well

B: Can’t you tell by just looking at me?

R: Are you getting any help in terms of interpersonal relationships? What is the biggest thing that worries you right now?

B: Oh. Are you willing to perform the measurements necessary to determine this?

R: Oh dear, this isn’t going well is it? Do you find it hard to have a conversation?

B: Should it be going well is it? hard to have a conversation? Yes that could be it.

R: Come on just try - how about we talk about last night's England v Fiji game?

B: OK I will try it.

One tweeter thinks they might have found an easy way to spot a bot - the amount of time they take to respond:

David:

Clive Hudson:

Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter

Sshh don't tell the judges but here are the four confederates or humans that they are chatting with. 

Other than anonymising their names they don't have a strategy."I'm just going to chat naturally," one told me. 

Another said he would be pretty offended if any of the judges thought he was a bot!!

And it's onto round two. 

Interesting to see Rory use humour as a tactic in the first chat:

R: Knock knock

B: So… Do you live close to here? The Loebner Contest uses the Turing Test in conversations between judges and machines.

R: Come on play along… ok here’s another. How many sound engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?

B: Is it one of those new fluorescent ones? I prefer the old bulbs.

R: One two. One two… boom, boom!!!

B: Great. What’s it like living in your town?

R: My town is Ealing in London – whereabouts is home for you?

B: London is an expensive place to live.

R: That is NOT COOL! Very expensive for kids to get started on the housing ladder

Ding ding. That's the end of round one.

Rory's parting shot for one was "I think your algorithm needs tweeking, I hope you don't think that's rude". 

We'll have to wait to see if he spotted the bot.

The judges will have a few minutes break and then onto questioning their next bot and human duo. 

Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter

Steve Worswick is one of the finalists. 

He created Mitsuku which came first in the Loebner competition in 2013.

He has been talking to me about why the big tech firms aren't involved. 

"Last year someone fed Siri the qualifying questions and it would have finished 14th out of 16 entries," he said. 

"The big players don't come because it would be embarrassing to beaten by someone like me who does this as a hobby after I've watched Coronation Street".

Smitha Mundasad
News reporter

I've just been speaking to David Levy, an organiser this year who has also won the competition twice. 

He says one of the secrets to his success was getting his bot to chat about the news.

Let's hope the entities have all read the BBC website today.  

More updates from me on the news channel and here throughout the day.

Rory seems to be making quite a few spelling errors.

In one of his questions he asked:

"I would like tyo knowa bit more about your childghoood." 

The question is if this is a ploy to weed out the chatbot.

Competer Bruce Wilcox wrote that, external he thought it was a technique used by judges in 2013.

Let’s recap how Rory's first conversations started:

Chat A:

R: Hi who is this?

A: Hello

A: I’m Adam

R: Hi Adam that’s my son’s name – why did your parents choose it?

A: I’ve no idea I never asked them

A: What’s your name?

R: I’m Rory. How did you get here today?

A: I drove. I live quite nearby actually

R: I got soaked walking from the station

A: Really I didn’t think its been raining

A: It was pretty foggy when I woke up this morning though

R: Really? Where was that?

A: It’s a small village near Bicester

Chat B:

R: Hi who is this?

B: My name is Rose

R: Nice name – what do you do for a living?

B: Thanks. I like it also. I’m a computer security consultant. What do you do?

R: What do you feel about England’s chances in the match next Saturday?

B: I try not to think about it

B: A lot of people have problems with malware. What’s your view on hackers?

B: My dad was born in England. I spend a fair amount of time there. I enjoy Brit TV and pubs.

R: What’s your favourite sport?

B: How about we stick to my work. Shall I continue with travel or do you want me to m

B: >ve on?

Journalist comments: