Opinion: When It Comes to AI, Better Safe Than Quick

Some people got a good laugh when a chatbot was given its own Twitter account – and was then transformed into a Holocaust-denying racist in 24 hours and swiftly taken offline. The Microsoft chatbot – called Tay – is a piece of software which can communicate with others with no human involvement. This bot was equipped with artificial intelligence but was easily manipulated by Twitter users. Teaching a robot works just like drilling an innocent, unknowing child, as artificial intelligence learns from the sum of its experiences, much like human beings. The more often a subject is talked about, opinions expressed, and certain wordings used, the more likely the software is to consider it normal and use it.