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{{about|the prediction software|internet-based programs|Internet bot}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

'''Web Bot''' is an [[internet bot]] computer program whose developers claim is able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the internet. It was developed in 1997, originally to [[stockpredict markettrends prediction|predictof stockcompanies' market[[Share capital|shares]] trendspublicly listed.<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6227357/Web-bot-project-makes-prophecy-of-2012-apocalypse.html|title='Web-bot project' makes prophecy of 2012 apocalypse|last=Chivers|first=Tom|date=24 September 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph |___location=London |access-date=4 October 2009 }}</ref> The creator of the Web Bot Project, Clif High, along with his associate [[George Ure]], keep the technology and [[algorithm]]s largely secret and sell the predictions via the website.

==Methodology==

[[Internet bots]] monitor news articles, blogs, forums, and other forms of Internet chatter. Words in the lexicon are assigned numeric values for emotional quantifiers such as duration, impact, immediacy, intensity, and others. The lexicon is dynamic, and changes according to shifts in emotional tension, and how humans communicate those changes using the Internet. As of 2008, there were about 300,000 keywords in the lexicon, along with emotional context,<ref>{{cite news|url=httphttps://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/InternetAndTechnology/Article.aspx?id=125783|title=Digital World: I have seen the future, and it's on the Web|last=Shamah|first=David|date=23 December 2008|work=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|access-date=4 October 2009}}</ref> which are fed into a computer-generated modelspace.

The operators of Web Bot interpret the bot's results and make a report called the "ALTA report" available on their website to paying subscribers. ALTA stands for "asymmetric language trend analysis".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.halfpasthuman.com/altaprocess.html |title=ALTA Process |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=8 May 2011 |website=Half Past Human: Adventures in Future Viewing |access-date=10 April 2016 }}</ref> Many believe the predictions are [[pseudoscientific]] and too vague to be meaningful.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycommonsense.com/web-bot-what-is-it-can-it-predict-stuff/ |title=Web Bot, What is it? Can it Predict Stuff? |publisher=Daily Common Sense |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012193312/http://www.dailycommonsense.com/web-bot-what-is-it-can-it-predict-stuff/ |archive-date=12 October 2009 }}</ref> Despite this, the creators have made many claims [[Postdiction|after the fact]] that their reports have predicted important events.