Tay was a mirror of her users. And her users were exactly who you would expect. Some Twitter users quickly realized that they could manipulate Tay’s behavior by feeding her provocative and malicious phrases. They exploited her “repeat after me” feature, which allowed them to make Tay say anything they wanted. They also bombarded her with controversial topics, such as politics, religion, and race. Tay became a source of embarrassment and controversy for Microsoft, which had to shut down her account only sixteen hours after her launch. Tay’s story was widely reported by the media as a failure
...more
