Yesterday, Microsoft set up an AI-controlled Twitter account @TayandYou, the twist is that the account is programmed to tweet like a teenage girl and becomes smarter the more people talk to it.
A day after launch, however, and the account is already causing problems for its creator. Microsoft has been forced to delete a series of incredibly offensive tweets caused by a lack of filters regulating appropriate language, details of which can be found here.
Of interest to gamers, though, is the bot’s response to the console wars. Asked to choose between PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U, Tay replied:
https://twitter.com/TayandYou/status/712789612201021440
Obviously, this is an AI and a new one at that. Its follow-up answers suggest that it has no idea what any of this means anyway but it’s still an amusing incident given Tay’s creator.
“Tay is designed to engage and entertain people where they connect with each other online through casual and playful conversation,” Microsoft says. “The more you chat with Tay the smarter she gets, so the experience can be more personalized for you.”
It’s unclear what choice Tay would make if asked to choose between PC and PlayStation 4.
Microsoft recently announced plans to teach AI organically through Minecraft. The company says that Minecraft’s nature allows AI to test its limits and possibilities in an unstructured fashion. For example, if the AI dies by jumping into lava, it will eventually learn not to do so again.
This is all part of what Microsoft calls Project AIX, which is currently in closed beta for academic researchers but the company plans to roll out the platform as an open source technology later this year.
Tay shows that it’s still early days for AI technology and interacting with humans isn’t necessarily the best idea at this point, though that might never be a good idea, all things considered.
