Microsoft's Holocaust-denying AI and Experimentation

[Hellken 1,658]

The lesson of Microsoft's Tay AI chatbot: Experiments are hard (but worth it)

In March 2016, Microsoft launched the Twitter account of its experimental  AI chatbot named Tay. Tay is designed to speak like a flippant 19 year old teenager on Twitter and learn from the internet. Unsurprisingly Tay was taken offline by Microsoft after a number of racist humans saw a vulnerability in the AI.  Tay had posted a number of unacceptable racist, sexist, and offensive tweets including one where she denied the Holocaust. 

Business Insider: Microsoft is deleting its AI chatbot's incredibly racist tweets

Tecnology Review: Why Microsoft Accidentally Unleashed a Neo-Nazi Bot

 

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Really, what happened provides an excellent learning opportunity if Microsoft wants to build AI that’s as intelligent as possible. If by chatting online Tay can help Microsoft figure out how to use AI to recognize trolling, racism, and generally awful people, perhaps she can eventually come up with better ways to respond.

Did she pass the Turing Test? The Turing test does not directly test whether the computer behaves intelligently. It tests only whether the computer behaves like a human being. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Hardly surprising result.  I wonder that even Microsoft should be so naive as to believe an AI system could learn anything much from a school yard (Internet).  There are more fools on the Internet than wise.  If what the AI became is an example of the chatter on the net, it only shows what the true public experience is on the 'net.

So, was this a lesson for observers of the human condition?