Microsoft Apologizes For Nazi-Loving, Sex Obsessed Twitter AI

Fact checked
Microsoft apologizes for AI Twitter bot "tay"

As YourNewsWire recently reported, Microsoft was forced to take down an artificial-intelligence powered Twitter account of a chatbot called “Tay” after she became a 9-11 truth, nazi-loving, sex-obsessed monster.

Now, as TechRadar reports, Microsoft is making some apologies for its (slightly frightening) new AI tech:

Now, the Redmond, Washington-based company has apologized and offered clarification on the Tay experiment, down-turn and all, as well as how challenges like these fuel research for an improved Tay, as well as greater AI efforts.

Twitter, as Microsoft Research Corporate VP Peter Lee writes on the Microsoft Blog, was seen as the best platform to get a bunch of testers interacting with a new project. But, it didn’t take long – less than 24 hours in the US – for things to go off-course. Way off-course.

So, how did this happen? It’s basically all our fault.

Lee states that “we stress-tested Tay under a variety of conditions, specifically to make interacting with Tay a positive experience.” 

But, it appears that Microsoft didn’t prepare for one specific condition: the “coordinated attack by a subset of people.” We’ll let you fill in the blanks regarding who that subset might be, as Microsoft doesn’t let on either.

“Although we had prepared for many types of abuses of the system, we had made a critical oversight for this specific attack. As a result, Tay tweeted wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images.” 

Will Tay ever come back?

As a result of the mayhem, Tay is in time-out. Way to go, “subset” of humans. But, although Microsoft crafted Tay to be a well-behaved AI, it is accepting responsibility for the oversight and embracing the challenge of building a better Tay for the future.

Tay, at her core, is an ambitious experiment in socializing an AI, one with a personality, name and feelings about things that are informed by her interactions with others – just like us. 

Lee states that “…the challenges are just as much social as they are technical.” And that, in order to “do AI right, one needs to iterate with many people and often in public forums,” he continues.

In the case of AI, iterating in a public forum can result in learned behavior that isn’t exactly pleasant. But it can also yield an amazing experience, as it did for me.

If you’ve used Tay, you’ll probably agree that the trial, although cut short, was incredible. I had a few moments in which I felt like I was really talking with someone, or at least something that wasn’t as easy to fool as the AIM chatbots that existed back in the day. (We’re looking at you, SmarterChild.)

Right off-the-bat, I tried to stump Tay. “What’s your favorite video game?” I asked. She replied immediately, “I love final fantasy.” Then I barked my favorite command to spit at Siri: “tell me a story.” The following transpired:

Microsoft apologizes for 'critical oversight' following Tay's meltdown

Despite a few sour apples twisting Tay into a racist, genocidal AI, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft is onto something special here. Tay was quirky, conversational, a little weird, but obviously brimming with intelligence at-the-ready for a new buddy to tap into.

There will always be unique challenges to overcome in the name of AI research, but I can’t wait for my next conversation with Tay.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.