Microsoft Chatbot Trolls Shoppers for Online Sex

Tech companies pitch chatbots to businesses as a way to keep customers coming back for more. A new bot built by Microsoft employees in their spare time is designed to do exactly the opposite. The chatbot, tested recently in Seattle, Atlanta, and Washington D.C., lurks behind fake online ads for sex posted by nonprofits working to combat human trafficking, and responds to text messages sent to the number listed. The software initially pretends to be the person in the ad, and can converse about its purported age, body, fetish services, and pricing. But if a would-be buyer signals an intent to purchase sex, the bot pivots sharply into a stern message.