Running a Markov chain model as-is to generate text produces gibberish. You correctly point out that the gibberish can be much higher quality.
Fundamentally it is gibberish not for any simple algorithmic reason, but because generation is occurring without any respect to context or meaning beyond what randomly emerges from the graceful juxtaposition of randomly chosen words.
It is purely about the combinations of words (in that sense, syntax). This shouldn't be surprising - who ever actually expected that generating a kind of syntax model would result in coherent thoughts? At most it can generate texts like weird dreams, it shouldn't be surprising that the result is not a cogent discussion of current events.
This does not mean that the same information cannot be used in more sophisticated ways. But these wouldn't be a Markov chatbot. The Markov model would effectively be a component in a larger system that needed to use words. It isn't at all clear that the Markov model is the best possible one, but it is just groundless dogma to insist that learning can't have anything to do with real performance.
Fundamentally it is gibberish not for any simple algorithmic reason, but because generation is occurring without any respect to context or meaning beyond what randomly emerges from the graceful juxtaposition of randomly chosen words. It is purely about the combinations of words (in that sense, syntax). This shouldn't be surprising - who ever actually expected that generating a kind of syntax model would result in coherent thoughts? At most it can generate texts like weird dreams, it shouldn't be surprising that the result is not a cogent discussion of current events.
This does not mean that the same information cannot be used in more sophisticated ways. But these wouldn't be a Markov chatbot. The Markov model would effectively be a component in a larger system that needed to use words. It isn't at all clear that the Markov model is the best possible one, but it is just groundless dogma to insist that learning can't have anything to do with real performance.