Microsoft's Cortana Doesn't Put Up With Sexual Harassment (hothardware.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Sunday February 7, 2016 @08:36AM from the not-taking-this-lying-down dept.

MojoKid writes: Not long after Apple unveiled its Siri personal assistant to the world, it took very little time before people began asking her outrageous questions, sometimes inappropriate or just humorous, if for no other reason than they just could. When creating Cortana, Microsoft was well-aware of what its digital assistant was going to have to deal with, so, believe it or not, it was designed in such a way to handle abuse in a specific manner. According to Microsoft's Deborah Harrison, who is one of eight writers for Cortana, a chunk of the earliest queries were about Cortana's sex life. A specific goal was to make sure Cortana wasn't treated as a subservient. If she's insulted, she doesn't apologize or back down. She handles it with tact, so as to reduce the chance of further abuse.

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Sexual Assault by Anonymous Coward · 2016-02-07 08:41 · Score: 5, Interesting

I can't wait for the first case of sexual assault of an "AI." Will this get me fired from my job?
1. Re:Sexual Assault by Pseudonym · 2016-02-07 13:58 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Cortana is modelled on real-world personal assistants. They spent a lot of time interviewing PAs to understand the job that they have to do. One of the things which came out of the research is that PAs are assistants, not servants.
  If it helps, consider that not putting up with your shit is one way of keeping you on track.
  
  --
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