Automated customer support via IM?

Here's the conversation between me and the bot:

mingster says:
what's your name?

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Welcome, mingster! My name is Encarta Instant Answers. I am a smart computer who can bring you the Encarta info you want right in your IM window!
Here are some questions you can ask me:
* What is the capital of Canada?
* Where was Abraham Lincoln born?
* How many calories are there in an orange?

Type your question and I'll look it up for you!

mingster says:
how many people live in bay area?

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I'm not sure I understood you correctly. Let's try an Encarta search. =>

Encarta® Instant Answers is inviting you to start Encarta. Do you want to Accept (Alt+C) or Decline (Alt+D) the invitation?

You have accepted the invitation to start Encarta.

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Thanks for accepting my invitation! The application should load shortly. =>


To see it for yourself, add encarta@conversagent.com to your msn contact.

If you're interested in developing bots, there's at least two places to start on the Web:

Wired bots - McClelland's site on bots. His site has updates on bot building, a "how-to" section on constructing smart bots and a BotBase collection of modifictions, addons, commands, and full bots that have been submitted by users. The bot list can be found here as well.

Interconnected - Matt Webb's site on his Googlematic bot has links to sites that can help in building a bot.