Two Chatbots Disappear From China's Biggest App Store After Committing Thought Crimes
Chinese chatbots dream of moving to America.
Early this month, China's largest messenger apps put the kibosh on two chatbots that offered insufficiently patriotic answers to user questions about communism and Taiwan.
Turing Robot's BabyQ and Microsoft's XiaoBing had been available on the massively popular messaging platforms WeChat and QQ. Like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, BabyQ and XiaoBing are AI programs designed to "chat" with users.
According to the Financial Times, the apps served up heretical responses to various questions about the Chinese government:
A test version of the BabyQ bot could still be accessed on Turing's website on Wednesday, however, where it answered the question "Do you love the Communist party?" with a simple "No".
Before it was pulled, XiaoBing informed users: "My China dream is to go to America," according to a screengrab posted on Weibo, the microblogging platform. On Wednesday, when some users were still able to access XiaoBing, it dodged the question of patriotism by replying: "I'm having my period, wanna take a rest."
The BabyQ test bot on Turing's site answered "For this question, I don't know yet," when asked if Taiwan was part of China.
Americans may remember a similar chatbot scandal from 2016 involving Microsoft's Tay. After introducing Tay to Twitter, trolls on the platform "taught" Tay to espouse misogyny and antisemitism:
"Tay" went from "humans are super cool" to full nazi in pic.twitter.com/xuGi1u9S1A
— gerry (@geraldmellor) March 24, 2016
Microsoft unplugged Tay after less than a day, only to see the bot meltdown yet again when it was re-released several weeks later. Tay's very public collapse led one user to try a similar experiment with XiaoBing:
Pious chatbots are possible, though they can't be restrained on every topic. "People are really inventive when they want to cause problems," Carnegie Mellon computer scientist Alexander Rudnicky told Science after Tay's meltdown. "I don't know if you can control it."
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Not the first time someone has disappeared in China for speaking freely.
Hitler?
These bots are being water tortured as we speak.
That’s going to void the warranty.
Pious chatbots are possible, though they can’t be restrained on every topic. “People are really inventive when they want to cause problems,” Carnegie Mellon computer scientist Alexander Rudnicky told Science after Tay’s meltdown. “I don’t know if you can control it.”
Shut up, and get on board with installing these in every vehicle to drive for us!
/sarc
People are dicks, news at 11.
People are news, dicks at 11.
How is this any different from me teaching my neighbor’s parrots to say “Heil Hitler”?
Um, because they did it for the lulz, and you had ulterior motives?
You saying it’s not for the lulz? You gotta hear those parrots, they’re the funniest thing evah!
Pious chatbots are possible, though they can’t be restrained on every topic.
Can’t be restrained like ‘Thai hookerbot’? Or can’t be restrained like ‘Transferred to a different domain because of multiple allegations of inappropriate touching of underage chatbots’?
My Chinese dream: become commando, kill communists. Dream is life!
On Wednesday, when some users were still able to access XiaoBing, it dodged the question of patriotism by replying: “I’m having my period, wanna take a rest.”
Pssh. Women.
It’s funnier in the original Cantonese.
???????????
Yeah, you’re right that is way funnier. Won’t let me post this shit. Do I just need to add more text?
It’s aight. Everything is topsy turvy. Now progressives believe that Russian Hegemony is the biggest threat to the American way of life.
Huh, wrong-ish thread.
Nah, Russia can be pretty much blamed for everything nowadays
But topless Putin make everything better.
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