I suppose it’d be shorter to call ’em debate-bots, but Popular Science has the skinny on a new breed of online entity programmed to tirelessly refute the same tired claims:
Those responses are pulled from a database of hundreds of responses that the software matches up to the argument made by the original tweeter. Those who claim the entire solar system is warming are met with something like: “Sun’s output has barely changed since 1970 & is irrelevant to recent global warming” followed by a link to corresponding scientific research.
People on the other end of an argument don’t usually pick up on the fact that they are arguing with a program and will continue the argument. And AI_AGW continues to fire back responses. Even when the tweeter keeps throwing the same argument at the chatbot, it will respond with a variety of different arguments and links.
Apparently, programmer Nigel Leck is currently polishing @AI_AGW’s ability to detect sarcasm.