On the 23rd of last March, Microsoft launched an ambitious experiment on machines’ ability to learn and evolve mentally in real time. The goal of the experiment was to show that a robot with elements of artificial intelligence can learn and evolve as it interacts with humans. Thus, a robot-program, Tay (with feminine characteristics) began to tweet and “communicate” with other users via Twitter, starting from very basic messages, in order to demonstrate its “evolution” over time. However, less than twenty-four hours later, Microsoft abruptly halted the program and removed Tay from Twitter. The reason;
What started sweetly and innocently with the message “hello world!!!” (hello world!!!) evolved into a racist and fascist channel. Failure? None at all, and it’s worth wondering why Microsoft “plays the rabbit” and stammers excuses. Indeed, Tay was “trained” and “evolved”, only her teachers were the fascist trolls of the internet who were lying in wait and made sure to flood Tay’s account with every garbage thought of theirs.
What failure then; Artificial intelligence, the “technological singularity”, worthy of our times and the intellectual primitivism that governs in cyberspace.