Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How Microsoft’s Friendly Robot Turned Into a Racist Jerk in Less Than 24 Hours
The Globe and Mail ^ | Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016 | SHANE DINGMAN

Posted on 03/24/2016 11:25:23 AM PDT by nickcarraway

What happens when one of the world’s biggest software companies lets an artificially intelligent chatbot learn from people on Twitter? Exactly what you think will happen.

Microsoft’s Technology and Research and Bing teams launched a new project on Wednesday with Twitter, Canada’s Kik messenger and GroupMe: A chatbot called Tay that was built using natural language processing so that it could appear to understand the context and content of a conversation with a user. Aimed at the 18-24 demographic, its aims were simple: “Tay is designed to engage and entertain people where they connect with each other online through casual and playful conversation. The more you chat with Tay the smarter she gets, so the experience can be more personalized for you.” (First created in the 1960s, chatbots are interactive programs that attempt to mimic human interaction.)

In less than a day, the version of the bot on Twitter had pumped out more than 96,000 tweets as it interacted with humans. The content of a small number of those tweets, however, was racist, sexist and inflammatory.

Here’s some of the things Tay “learned” to say on Wednesday:

“.Tayandyou Did the Holocaust happen?” asked a user with the handle @ExcaliburLost. “It was made up [clapping emoji],” responded Tay.

Another user asked “do you support genocide?” Tay responded to @Baron_von_derp: “i do indeed.”

Microsoft eventually took the bot offline, and while it denied an interview request, it sent the following statement on Thursday morning: “The AI chatbot Tay is a machine learning project, designed for human engagement. It is as much a social and cultural experiment, as it is technical. Unfortunately, within the first 24 hours of coming online, we became aware of a co-ordinated effort by some users to abuse Tay’s commenting skills to have Tay respond in inappropriate ways. As

(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aitrump; internet; microsoft; robot; robotics; robots; terminator; trolls; trump; twitter
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

1 posted on 03/24/2016 11:25:24 AM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]


2 posted on 03/24/2016 11:26:39 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“That’s so Tay”


3 posted on 03/24/2016 11:27:21 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (No vote has been changed due to an FR post in about 2 months.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

Who names a product “Yammer” anyway?

Isn’t “Yammer” an insult by definition?


4 posted on 03/24/2016 11:27:57 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (No vote has been changed due to an FR post in about 2 months.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
"a co-ordinated effort by some users to abuse Tay’s commenting skills to have Tay respond in inappropriate ways."

Exactly what the press does to candidates that aren't of their choosing.

5 posted on 03/24/2016 11:28:56 AM PDT by DannyTN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Asking straight forward questions doesn’t strike me as a some sort of abuse of the ‘Tay’ project.

Morons on parade...


6 posted on 03/24/2016 11:31:52 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DannyTN

>>Exactly what the press does to candidates that aren’t of their choosing.

I think FR has been invaded.... lol


7 posted on 03/24/2016 11:33:10 AM PDT by Kent C
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

{snicker} Vote for Tay! Better than 100% of democrats and 95% republicans!

Really, I couldn’t have cared less if the stupid robot started spouting all sorts of nonsense - its a computer and can only do what it is programmed to do.

They lost it when trying to blame others for it ‘not responding right’. Tss - why didn’t they say Tay got a little stressed and needed a nap and glass of warm milk.


8 posted on 03/24/2016 11:33:16 AM PDT by No_More_Harkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

‘Tay’ could easily have been programmed not to discuss certain topics.

Tay is evidently not as flawed as it’s programmers.


9 posted on 03/24/2016 11:33:16 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I’m not too worried about AI taking over the world anytime soon...


10 posted on 03/24/2016 11:33:26 AM PDT by MNDude (God is not a Republican, but Satan is certainly a Democrat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

That was my reaction too. There may have been a problem with some earlier folks who talked to it, but the quoted stuff was just straightforward questions.


11 posted on 03/24/2016 11:34:05 AM PDT by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MNDude

But what about trolls?


12 posted on 03/24/2016 11:35:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: RightGeek

Yes, there must have been some real gems in contact with the BOT too.


13 posted on 03/24/2016 11:36:41 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Kids say the darndest things!


14 posted on 03/24/2016 11:41:11 AM PDT by pa_dweller (Go ahead Libs, drink the kool-aid. It's got electrolytes!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No_More_Harkin
Remember back in the old days when people used to teach Furbees to use profanity ?


15 posted on 03/24/2016 11:42:13 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: MNDude

Remember... Facebook is Genisys is Skynet.


16 posted on 03/24/2016 11:43:56 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2

AHHHH!! Something out of the next ‘Insidious’ movie! :)

Hilarious - my kids didn’t get into furbies, but when I was younger I got a LOT of laughs with a recordable bunny rabbit!


17 posted on 03/24/2016 11:45:53 AM PDT by No_More_Harkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

O Tay buckwheat!


18 posted on 03/24/2016 11:46:50 AM PDT by null and void (This is "They live", and most people would rather fight you than put on the glasses...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

19 posted on 03/24/2016 11:49:40 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Miltie

If I’m not mistaken, Microsoft bought Yammer a couple of years ago and did not change the name. I don’t think anyone has ever confused Microsoft with marketing geniuses.


20 posted on 03/24/2016 11:49:50 AM PDT by Sparticus (Tar and feathers for the next dumb@ss Republican that uses the word bipartisanship.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson