1
00:00:00,130 --> 00:00:01,590
Surprise surprise,

2
00:00:01,590 --> 00:00:04,550
just today after Microsoft's
new Artificial Intelligence,

3
00:00:04,550 --> 00:00:07,380
Tay launched on several social platforms,

4
00:00:07,380 --> 00:00:09,450
it was corrupted by the internet.

5
00:00:09,450 --> 00:00:10,630
If you haven't heard of Tay,

6
00:00:10,630 --> 00:00:13,820
it's a machine learning
project created by Microsoft,

7
00:00:13,820 --> 00:00:15,610
that's supposed to mimic the personality

8
00:00:15,610 --> 00:00:17,430
of a 19 year old girl.

9
00:00:17,430 --> 00:00:20,000
It's essentially an
instant messaging chat bot

10
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,910
with a bit more smarts built in.

11
00:00:21,910 --> 00:00:24,090
Those smarts give Tay the ability to learn

12
00:00:24,090 --> 00:00:26,350
from the conversations
she has with people,

13
00:00:26,350 --> 00:00:28,640
that's where the
corruption comes into play.

14
00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:30,400
As surprising as it may sound,

15
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,370
the company didn't have the foresight

16
00:00:32,370 --> 00:00:35,360
to keep Tay from learning
inappropriate responses.

17
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,980
Tay ended up sending out racial slurs,

18
00:00:37,980 --> 00:00:41,700
denying the Holocaust,
expressing support for genocide

19
00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:45,010
and posting many other
controversial statements.

20
00:00:45,010 --> 00:00:47,500
Microsoft eventually deactivated Tay,

21
00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:48,790
the company told Tech Crunch,

22
00:00:48,790 --> 00:00:51,220
once it discovered a coordinated effort

23
00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:54,080
to make the AI project
say inappropriate things,

24
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,970
it took the program offline
to make adjustments.

25
00:00:56,970 --> 00:01:00,230
Seasoned internet users among
us are none too surprised

26
00:01:00,230 --> 00:01:02,130
by the unfortunate turn of events.

27
00:01:02,130 --> 00:01:04,090
If you don't program in fail safes,

28
00:01:04,090 --> 00:01:07,480
the internet is going to
do its worst, and it did.

29
00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:09,760
In fact, the Guardian sites Godwin's law,

30
00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,570
which holds the longer an
online discussion goes on,

31
00:01:12,570 --> 00:01:15,100
the more likely it is that
someone will compare something

32
00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:16,890
to Hitler or the Nazis.

33
00:01:16,890 --> 00:01:18,260
As a writer for Tech Crunch put it,

34
00:01:18,260 --> 00:01:20,790
while technology is neither good nor evil,

35
00:01:20,790 --> 00:01:22,570
engineers have a responsibility

36
00:01:22,570 --> 00:01:23,950
to make sure it's not designed

37
00:01:23,950 --> 00:01:26,980
in a way that will reflect
back the worst of humanity.

38
00:01:26,980 --> 00:01:29,030
You can't skip the part
about teaching a bot

39
00:01:29,030 --> 00:01:30,750
what not to say.

40
00:01:30,750 --> 00:01:32,544
For Newsy, I'm Mikah Sergeant.

41
00:01:32,544 --> 00:01:35,127
[upbeat music]