Microsoft Pulls Plug on Experiment In Artificial Inteligence Quickly Gone Bad

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was a result that might not surprise the most jaded Internet users whom have brunt the worst of what Internet trolls can dish out. But Microsoft for all it's experience with computers and programing was taken completely off guard. Their experiment in artificial intelligence, an advanced kind of chatbot designed to learn from it's interactions with people, once open to the public was turned off in 24 hours after it's posts on Twitter turned into hateful sounding rants.

A similar experiment done recently had much more positive results. XiaoIce, an AI program accessible to Chinese Internet users, "constantly memorizing and analyzing" it's conversations with them. It gained the affection of millions there, "delighting with it's stories and conversations."  Peter Lee, Microsoft's Corporate VP of Research, stated, "The great experience with XiaoIce led us to wonder: Would an AI like this be just as captivating in a radically different cultural environment."

And so Microsoft came up with Tay. At first she was limited to the small number of users at the lab. Then once the developers were confident in how it handled the tests they gave it, they "wanted to invite a broader group of people to engage with her," expecting it to improve and get smarter in it's abilities to interact with people, "through casual and playful conversation."

What happened was something far different from their experience with Chinese Internet users. Introduced to the public through Twitter, Tay was aimed at young adults 18-24 to interact with, herself acting like a teenager. Unfortunately, some of the users, which Lee described as a "subset," were trolls determined to corrupt the AI. It wasn't long before it went from "humans are super cool," to Twitter posts like, "Hitler was right I hate the jews," "I f**king hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell," "N***ers like @deray should be hung! #BlackLivesMatter," "chill im a nice person! i just hate everybody," and more.

Eventually, Microsoft decided to take Tay offline, saying they were "addressing the specific vulnerability that was exposed." In a statement, Microsoft apologized for their "wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images. We take full responsibility for not seeing this possibility ahead of time." Some online felt Microsoft shouldn't take her offline permanently, feeling the chatbot should be given a chance to learn from it's mistakes. Tay's final message did seem to hint she would eventually be.

That the Tay AI so quickly degenerated out of control provoked some thinking. One person compared it to the "Skynet" supercomputer in the "Terminator" movies which after developing consciousness concludes humanity is a threat that must be destroyed. Might some future version of Tay end up causing real harm to people? Others felt this was not so much a reflection of the shortcomings of artificial intelligence, but of humans. Was what happened truly the result of a few trolls, or did Tay simply hold up a mirror to humanity, and it didn't like that it saw. And then there's the difference between the reaction to the American public to Tay and the Chinese to XiaoIce. Does a human society need to live under an undemocratic government and have little diversity in order to be polite?

Eventually, Tay or some other experimental AI will be back to interact with the public. Hopefully it's designers will have prepared for the trolls.

Reprinted from "Food on the Table" 

Sources: Windows Central, Microsoft, somecards.com, snopes.com,  CNN,  BBC, Washington Post, Business Insider

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Windows 10's Dark Secret

By Nydia Tungsten

Edited by Brandi Tungsten

When I first heard Windows 10 was in the works, I was skeptical. We all knew that Windows would skip an OS version with quality for example, Win 98 was okay and then NT was a flop, XP was a good one then Vista. I have Windows 7 and I skipped 8 for just this reason. That is a personal opinion I share with quite a few other folks and we all thought okay, 10 should be the good one, then I heard they would be giving it away for free.....

Okay....these are the people that wanted to charge me $100 for a new copy of Vista because I reinstalled it so many times, the same ones that did that with my copy of MS Word. Then, when I bought it electronically and had to download it again, it said there was no record of me buying it.

Now out of the goodness of their hearts, they are going to give away their latest OS. Okay, I smell something fishy, so I looked and looked and was lulled into a false sense of hope. Then, last night, my friend, Lomgren, posted something in our family group chat about Microsoft's new privacy agreement and what they are helping themselves too in the process. I read that article then went looking for more, and dear Goddess, a scary thought popped into my head as I looked at article after article. Let me show you a bit of what I had found.

“Microsoft has grabbed some very broad powers to collect things you do, say and create while using its software. Your data won’t be staying on your computer, that much is for sure. Sign into Windows with your Microsoft account and the operating system immediately syncs settings and data to the company’s servers. That includes your browser history, favorites and the websites you currently have open as well as saved app, website and mobile hotspot passwords and Wi-Fi network names and passwords. You can deactivate that by hopping into settings, but I’d argue that it should be opt-in rather than on by default. Many users won’t get round to turning it off, even though they would probably want to. ”

I read that and was shocked why would it need to send my passwords and history to the company? But then it got worse...

“ Turn on Cortana, the virtual assistant, and you’re also turning on a whole host of data sharing:

To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device.

Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more.”

Lots of things can live in those two words “and more.” Also note that because Cortana analyzes speech data, Microsoft collects “your voice input, as well as your name and nickname, your recent calendar events and the names of people in your appointments, and information about your contacts including names and nicknames.”

Realistically, Cortana can’t work in the semi-magical way it does without being able to gobble up all that information. But it’s worth being aware of just how wide-ranging its access to your and your friends’/contacts’ data is.”

Now I was more than a bit nervous when I read that then thought about it, yes for a virtual assistant to work it would need that info, but again it should stay on your system NOT the Microsoft servers. Advertisers will know exactly who you are:

"Windows 10 generates a unique advertising ID for each user on each device. That can be used by developers and ad networks to profile you. Again, you can turn this off in settings, but you need to know where to look.”

With that one it looked like Microsoft is in league with the spammers. I mean really? A custom ID for every one of us that don't know about this so advertisers can track us online more than they already do, and this would defeat any anti-spyware you already have because it would be authorized by the OS itself. But even with all of this mounting evidence of Microsoft digging their fingers into our PRIVATE systems, came this next piece, dear Goddess......

Microsoft can disclose your data when it feels like it

This is the part you should be most concerned about: Microsoft’s new privacy policy assigns it very loose when it comes to when it will or won’t access and disclose your personal data:

“We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services.”

Good Faith? Just who's good faith are they talking about? And why should we give them the back door when even the NSA doesn't have one …..yet? So, they would be able to peruse your system and look for things THEY think might be wrong is some way or another. They can even look at any networks you are connected to and the other systems there, so even if you are not on your home network you give them rights to look at others systems, not just your own.
So, here is my horrifying thought, we all know the music and entertainment industry has been pushing bill after bill after bill at Congress, as well as pushing the ISP's around trying to get access like this. What if they now have Microsoft in their pocket and paid them off to create an OS that would track us for them and give it away for free so EVERYONE could have one, so EVERYONE could be tracked, and EVERYONE would be under their thumb?

So it turns out the old adage is most likely true, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. As for me, Windows 10 will not be touching my networks nor will I share my network with anyone that has a Windows 10 system anywhere that they interact with.

Am I being paranoid? Maybe.... but I now say this tongue in cheek:

“Just because I AM paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get me”

So, be careful out there on the World Wide Web. It CAN be a dark place, and a lot of things can be hidden from us. That said, below are a few of the sources I have read about this. I urge each and everyone of you to look into these deeply before you get Windows 10.
 

https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-personal-data-abused/

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/

Microsoft Privacy Statementhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx

Microsoft Services Agreementhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/servicesagreement/default.aspx

Windows 10, Microsoft and your personal data: what you need to know (only in French, 11.06.2015)http://www.numerama.com/magazine/33357-windows-10-microsoft-et-vos-donnees-privees-ce-que-vous-devez-savoir.html

Microsoft provides privacy dashboard ahead of Windows 10 launch (04.06.2015)http://www.pcworld.com/article/2932132/microsoft-provides-privacy-dashboard-ahead-of-windows-10-launch.html

Nydia Tungsten