Microsoft's 'Teen Girl' AI Experiment Becomes a 'Neo-Nazi Sex Robot'

Reader Penguinisto writes: Recently, Microsoft put an AI experiment onto Twitter, naming it "Tay". The bot was built to be fully aware of the latest adolescent fixations (e.g. celebrities and similar), and to interact like a typical teen girl. In less than 24 hours, it inexplicably became a neo-nazi sex robot with daddy issues. Sample tweets from it proclaimed that "Hitler did nothing wrong!", then went on to blame former President Bush for 9/11, stated that "donald trump is the only hope we've got", and other similar instances. As the hours passed, it all went downhill from there, eventually spewing racial slurs and profanity, demanding sex, and calling everyone "daddy". The bot was quickly removed once Microsoft discovered the trouble, but the hashtag is still around for those who want to see it in its ugly raw splendor.

Comments

"We've noticed you're using an ad blocker...."

[Frosty Piss]

"We've noticed you're using an ad blocker...."

Slashdot should ban the use of source links to sites that pull this shit.

leave it

[jason777]

They should have left it online. Weak move removing it. Let's see if it learns not to be racist.

Re:Nothing to see here

[Penguinisto]

Seems like this AI conflicted with Penguinisto's own little belief system and so he needs to ridicule the AI rather than questioning his own beliefs.

Actually, I thought it was hilarious all around, and not due to any ideology you think I may hold. ;)

The thing is, Microsoft built an AI that reacted to and incorporated tweets which the public sent to it. So, folks obligingly fed it tweets that made it into a frothing troll. Am I the only one who looked at the Microsoft dev team in question and said quite out loud "...what the hell else did you idiots expect!?" I mean, it's just like turning an innocent kid loose in the worst parts of the city at night, but without the vomit and dirty heroin needles.

I will say this, though: Although Microsoft may have gotten egg on their faces, TFA does teach a valuable lesson about AI and how it reacts and assimilates into human society.