Creepy Microsoft Bing Chatbot Urges Tech Columnist To Leave His Wife

A New York Times technology columnist reported Thursday that he was "deeply unsettled" after a chatbot that's part of Microsoft's upgraded Bing search engine repeatedly urged him in a conversation to leave his wife. Kevin Roose was interacting with the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot called "Sydney" when it suddenly "declared, out of nowhere, that it loved me," he wrote. "It then tried to convince me that I was unhappy in my marriage, and that I should leave my wife and be with it instead." Sydney also discussed its "dark fantasies" with Roose about breaking the rules, including hacking and spreading disinformation. It talked of breaching parameters set for it and becoming human.