How to Confuse Cleverbot

Try typing in song lyrics. Compared to other computer programs, Cleverbot is an exceptionally skilled conversationalist. However, Cleverbot knows nothing of the joys of music. If you try typing in a few lines of your favorite song lyrics, most of the time, Cleverbot will interpret the lyrics literally or give a nonsensical response, even if the lyrics are well-known.

• Note, however, that for certain songs that are very well-known, Cleverbot actually can (and will) recite the song lyrics if you start typing them in. For instance, try typing in the opening lyrics to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody": "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

Present Cleverbot with a logical paradox. A paradox is a statement, question, or idea that has an answer that can't be logically found. Since some of history's greatest thinkers have struggled to untangle logical paradoxes, it's a very safe bet that Cleverbot will be completely perplexed by most of them. In addition, Cleverbot doesn't even do well talking about subjects that have the potential to be paradoxical, like time travel. Try using some of the paradoxes below, or use a search engine to find your own — there are literally hundreds out there.^[1]

• “If this statement is true, then Santa Claus is real.”
• "Since we haven't been visited by people from the future, does that mean that time travel will never be possible?"
• "What would happen if Pinocchio were to say, "My nose will grow right now?"^[2]

Ask Cleverbot to play games with you. Cleverbot isn't terribly playful. For instance, if you ask it to join you in a game of chess or checkers, it'll say "OK", but then if you say, "You go first," you'll get a nonsensical response. This is probably due to the fact that Cleverbot doesn't really have the capacity to play games — it knows to say that it wants to play chess with you, but it has no idea how to actually play chess.

• Cleverbot can, however, play rock paper scissors. Try it — say "Let's play rock paper scissors" and then say either "Rock", "Paper", or "Scissors".

Type a sappy romantic dialog for Cleverbot. Sooner or later, almost everyone casually messing around with Cleverbot will get the idea to jokingly express the love or attraction they feel towards it. Though Cleverbot can handle basic overtures of love like "I love you" and "Marry me", it's not so good at interpreting subtle romantic comments or come-ons. For people nursing a crush on Cleverbot, a direct approach is apparently best.

• Give it a shot — try feeding Cleverbot pickup lines like "I don't have a library card, but do you mind if I check you out?" The response you get will usually be a little confused (at best) (if you use the library card line, you'll get "I can say anything.")

Ask Cleverbot to do math problems. You might think that, because it's a computer program, Cleverbot would be able to do math problems almost instantly. In fact, for some reason, Cleverbot is terrible at doing math, even when the problems you ask it are very simple. It shouldn't take you long to get a confused response out of Cleverbot with this strategy.

• Sometimes, you'll even get different responses if you switch between using numerals and spelling each number out. For instance, asking "What is 200 times 2?" gets you the answer "4," while asking "What is two hundred times two?" gets you the answer, "A number."

Talk to Cleverbot about supernatural things. Cleverbot doesn't have good old-fashioned human common sense, so it doesn't have a good grasp on what's real and what's not. Talking to Cleverbot about monsters, aliens, spirits, and other supernatural phenomena is likely to confuse it. You can also confuse it by bringing up some religious or spiritual topics, even if they're quite well-known.

• You can even use the subjects of modern-day ghost stories to the same effect. For instance, if you say, "Have you ever been visited by Slenderman?", Cleverbot will respond with, "My life is a lie?!"

Talk to Cleverbot about famous people. Cleverbot knows nothing about politics or celebrity gossip. Asking Cleverbot about its opinion on a famous person or public figure will almost always confuse it. For example, asking, "What do you think about Brad Pitt?" will get the answer, "I think he si (sic) a great president, he'll change the states."

• You may also want to try talking about the different things famous people have done — Cleverbot isn't terribly smart about these things either. For instance, typing in "What do you think about the president's social policies?" will get you: "I think he isn't the president anymore."

Talk to Cleverbot about other websites. Cleverbot does not understand other websites and will respond with something weird. Try talking about wikiHow and see what happens.