[dsp1234]

because we had thought about all likely scenarios in our comfortable offices.

Or because they had real world experience with another bot in a similar situation:

"In China, our XiaoIce chatbot is being used by some 40 million people, delighting with its stories and conversations."

[bliti]

Interesting that it worked in China and not here. I'd like to read about the difference rather than a bland apology.

[BWStearns]

I kind of read the "... but it worked in China soooo...." bit of the announcement as somewhere behind a kind of sad sigh and an angry scowl. Maybe Mandela got it wrong, maybe a society should be judged by how it treats its chatbots?

[TheOtherHobbes]

That's what happens when networks get social.

[pdenya]

> Unfortunately, in the first 24 hours of coming online, a coordinated attack by a subset of people exploited a vulnerability in Tay.

I think it just didn't get a coordinated attack like this. I'd guess this type of attack needs to happen close to launch to be a high percentage of it's interactions to influence it so strongly.

[twoSeats]

Where exactly is "here" though? Twitter is global remember? Anyone in the world, including Zambia where I am could have interacted with Tay. That's a very different proposition to "China".

[eganist]

If I had to venture a hunch, it likely has something to do with a difference in culture.

[kolme]

Almost only Chinese people speak Chinese. However, many people speak English (I come from Spain, for example), so in this case you can hardly pin it on a single culture.

I think in this case it has to do more with 4chan's culture than a regional culture.

[Quinner]

Also the whole government control and censorship of the internet thing.

[Nutmog]

That wouldn't be an issue for just offending people, but only if it became political. Don't forget the US also has government control and censorship - try posting child porn on Twitter and see if the government leaves you alone.

[wodenokoto]

I think the Chinese likes an Internet prank just as much as anybody else and are just as capable at using social networks to organize one.

[bliti]

I meant technical differences of implementation.

[cpeterso]

It sounded like XiaoIce was a chatbot hosting individualized conversations, so it wouldn't be a platform for rebroadcasting bad stuff.

[rasz_pl]

dick jokes resulting in concentra^^^Reeducation camp might have something to do with it.