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by JabavuAdams 3742 days ago
They should worry about this, but not because of the offense and outrage (mock or real -- I don't know). I'm certainly not offended, just amused.

It just seems kind of obvious that Twitter users would grief the bot. Now, they address this point, but it's interesting that they still didn't last a day.

Think about that -- they were expecting abuse, but they still lasted less than 24 hours. That's certainly interesting.

2 comments

It is also an illustration of a problem with AI that trusts it environment and how such trust could have really bad consequences if said AI is allowed to anything important.

People try to social engineer people all the time, and it works. The consequences are somewhat limited because you are limited to breadth (mass media, phishing etc.) or depth (one on one interactions), but can still be scary.

If an AI isn't more resistant, we face the risk that any re-purposing of data from one AI in other copies, or allowing the AI to massively multitask makes social-engineering of AI far more wide-reaching, and hence far more worthwhile for attackers.

It'll be interesting to see what kinds of attacks will get directed at e.g. customer service bots in the future, and what brands ends up damaged as a result.

I was more impressed that it lasted an entire 24 hours. They're exposing it to the festering cesspool of Twitter, and it holds out for an entire day? That speaks to the quality of their anti-abuse measures more than anything else.
Come on. If your AI can't handle the Internet then it doesn't deserve to be on the Internet, let alone in charge of important stuff.
Nah, it can handle the Internet just fine. It just can't speak on the Internet.
It appears to have learned how to speak Internet pretty alright.

Hopefully this gets integrated right into Cortana. "Cortana, how do I get to the hardware store?" "Turn left and <unspeakable sex act from Urban Dictionary> yourself"