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Tay, Microsoft AI, goes offline after Internet teaches her to be racist

#artificialintelligence

Tay, a chatbot artificial intelligence designed by Microsoft to respond like an emoji-happy young adult, appeared to be silenced within 24 hours after her launch when the Internet taught her to praise Hitler and repeat conspiracy theories. According to Tay's "about page," she is designed to learn how to respond and entertain users, the more they chat with her on social media sites. The bot is can play games, tell stories, tell jokes and comment on pictures sent to her, and she is active on Twitter, Snapchat, Kik and GroupMe, according to Cnet. "Tay is designed to engage and entertain people where they connect with each other online through casual and playful conversation. The more you chat with Tay the smarter she gets, so the experience can be more personalized for you," according to the page.


This New Chrome Extension 'Rewords' Hateful Online Messages

NPR Technology

The Google Chrome extension is similar to a spell check function, except instead of flagging misspelled words, it identifies insults and hateful messages and then prompts the user to write something else. That's from the website for Reword, a new Google Chrome extension designed to combat cyberbullying. The tool identifies insulting words in online posts and messages, and then crosses them out with a red line. Developed in Australia by Headspace, which is Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and ad agency Leo Burnett Melbourne, Reword aims to address online abuse by preventing hateful messages before they're even posted. "Sadly, online bullying is endemic," Headspace CEO Chris Tanti said in a news release.



The shape of our faces changed AFTER we left Africa

Daily Mail - Science & tech

It was a key moment that allowed our species to spread around the world from humble beginnings in Africa. But the migration of our ancestors from the African continent around 50,000 years ago was not helped by the evolution of our noses. In fact, our protruding noses formed as a result of other changes in our face and did not help us adapt to new climates as was previously thought, new research suggests. The researchers used a computer model to simulate the flow of air through human noses, pictured, compared to chimpanzees and macaques. We are flat-faced hominins with external noses that protrude from our faces.


Scientists create a 'minimal' cell using just the genes needed to survive

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Superbugs capable of everything from curing diseases to mopping up pollution have come a step closer after scientists created an artificial lifeform in a lab. The new bacterial cell, nicknamed Synthia 3.0, has fewer genes than any other bacterium, making it the most basic form of life on Earth. Its creation paves the way for microbes that can be customised with genes so they churn out clean biofuels, soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or pump out vaccines in industrial quantities. Researchers have designed and synthesized a minimal bacterial genome, containing only the 473 genes necessary for life. Dr Craig Venter who led the research team, said: 'I think it's the start of a new era.'


AI-written novel passes first round of a literary competition

Engadget

The team, led by computer science professor Hitoshi Matsubara, collaborated closely with their digital construct during the writing process. The humans first assigned a gender to the protagonist and developed a rudimentary outline of the plot. They also assembled a list of words, phrases, and sentences to be included in the story. It was the AI's job to assemble these distinct assets into a unified text that wasn't just intelligible but compelling as well. The result was a novel entitled Konpyuta ga shosetsu wo kaku hi, or "The Day a Computer Writes a Novel", about an AI that abandons its responsibilities to humanity after recognizes its own talent for writing.


HR Analytics and the Kaggle competition March Madness

#artificialintelligence

This month I spent part of my free time to go through the'March Machine Learning Mania 2016' competition, by studying the subject and by attending two meetups here in London. The objective of the Kaggle competition was to predict the 2016 NCAA Basketball Tournament, called March Madness. It was a very enjoyable experience. You might think, what the heck has this to do with HR Analytics, the subject in which I am normally interested in. Predicting performance through machine learning algorithms is a crucial aspect for HR Analytics.


Here Are the Microsoft Twitter Bot's Craziest Racist Rants

#artificialintelligence

Yesterday, Microsoft unleashed Tay, the teen-talking AI chatbot built to mimic and converse with users in real time. Because the world is a terrible place full of shitty people, many of those users took advantage of Tay's machine learning capabilities and coaxed it into say racist, sexist, and generally awful things. While things started off innocently enough, Godwin's Law--an internet rule dictating that an online discussion will inevitably devolve into fights over Adolf Hitler and the Nazis if left for long enough--eventually took hold. Tay quickly began to spout off racist and xenophobic epithets, largely in response to the people who were tweeting at it--the chatbot, after all, takes its conversational cues from the world wide web. Given that the internet is often a massive garbage fire of the worst parts of humanity, it should come as no surprise that Tay began to take on those characteristics.


Dyson is making an electric car, Government funding documents reveal

The Independent - Tech

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display


The evolution of the nose: why is the human hooter so big?

New Scientist

Why did our ancestors develop a prominent protruding nose when most primates have flat nasal openings? A new study suggests that our unusual nose may have gained its shape simply as a by-product of other, more important changes in the structure of our face – although other researchers insist that some human noses have been directly shaped by natural selection. One of the many functions of the nose and nasal cavity is to act as an "air conditioner". Together, they make sure that the air an animal breathes in is made warm and humid enough to avoid damaging the delicate lining of the lungs. But Takeshi Nishimura at Kyoto University, Japan, and his colleagues argue that the human nose performs this job poorly.