Bing Is a Trap

A Microsoft spokesperson is typing something into a search engine, and it isn't quite working. I'm watching this unfold at a Microsoft press event in Manhattan that's meant to show off new features on Bing, the company's Google rival. In this demonstration, a chatbot is supposed to respond to a user's query with an embedded video. Typing on a large computer monitor in full view of several journalists, the staffer asks the program for instructions to tie a tie. But instead of a video, Bing generates an absurd heap of text--so many words about looping and knotting fabric set against a sterile white speech bubble.