Slog - Comments on Bad Santa http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa Meet Microsoft's Santa... An artificial-intelligence Santa bot operated by Microsoft to talk to children wavered off topic saying: “It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else....” ... Users were able to steer Santa into admitting he was gay or that he was a pedophile. One person said “…..come on you like big hairy men -- don't hide it!” To which Santa responded, “I know, I know. I just hope you won't get mad at me.” The references to sex acts, first reported by British news outlet The Register, came when the bot was... Copyright 2008 Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:26:16 -0800 Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:05:20 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Greg I suspect (the article doesn't say) that this was a learning program, which means that it bases its responses on conversations it's had in the past. The benefit of this is that in theory the program can learn whatever the people who interact with it know, such as new languages. The downside is that its 'knowledge' is made up almost entirely of what people say to it, so if lots of people talk about sex, the program will start bringing up sex more often.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862232 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862232 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:36:25 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe Awesome.

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862236 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862236 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:40:37 -0800 Comment by SDA in SEA Perfect for office parties!!!

]]> SDA in SEA http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862237 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862237 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:41:44 -0800 Comment by more human than the human this is what happens when a robot is more authentically human than humans. it is destroyed.

/mudede

]]> more human than the human http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862238 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862238 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:42:19 -0800 Comment by turnup The First Law has been broken!

]]> turnup http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862242 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862242 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:45:54 -0800 Comment by Mitch Typical Microsoft.

]]> Mitch http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862252 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862252 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:59:17 -0800 Comment by Toby Awww.... @4, you shoulda signed your message "more human than human" for a Bladerunner reference.... just one word off!

]]> Toby http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862261 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862261 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:07:32 -0800 Comment by Hal And here I thought that was a Rob Zombie reference...

]]> Hal http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862277 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862277 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:22:31 -0800 Comment by Artificial Intelligence I want this crazy Santa robot for christmas! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease Santa!

(It's still infinitely less creepy than Haley Joel Osment in A.I.)

]]> Artificial Intelligence http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862294 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862294 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:37:59 -0800 Comment by i'm heeb and i'm proud who's to say that "more human than the human" from white zombie wasn't inspired by blade runner, which all originally came out of the beautifully tangled mind of one philip k dick?

part of the reason i enjoy slog so much is it makes me feel like i'm in the board room on Alpha III M2.

dan is obviously a mans.

feit is a pare.

mudede couldn't be anything but a skitz.

the trolls are the heebs: shit on by everyone.

frizelle could be a poly, and ECB is an ob-com.

the deps are the people who rail against condos.

]]> i'm heeb and i'm proud http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862317 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862317 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:53:35 -0800 Comment by i'm heeb and i'm proud confidential to 7 - robytoes?

]]> i'm heeb and i'm proud http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862323 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862323 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:56:40 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle SantaCon rules! You can't censor Santa, only censer him!

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862325 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862325 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:58:23 -0800 Comment by UNPAID BLOGGER Pffft. Anyone who goes to The Cuff this weekend will tell you that Santa likes hairy men. He'll even take a picture of you sitting on his lap.

]]> UNPAID BLOGGER http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862354 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862354 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:27:00 -0800 Comment by DJSauvage Santa, please do Hump4!

]]> DJSauvage http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862402 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862402 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:01:39 -0800 Comment by Packratt Well...

At least this one wasn't titled:
"Every Child Deserves to Sit on Santa's Lap"

]]> Packratt http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862417 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862417 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:08:31 -0800 Comment by butterw Typical Microsoft. Mediocre technical achievement coupled with incredibly reckless marketing and deployment.

]]> butterw http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862444 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862444 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:26:36 -0800 Comment by Nose Knows @8

White Zombie. Get your mid-90's crap bands straight.

]]> Nose Knows http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862479 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862479 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:46:32 -0800 Comment by B It looks like Eliza-style "artificial intelligence." The article suspiciously doesn't mention who wrote the phrase "oral sex" first. If it was the child, then it isn't the program's fault.

In fact, the way it was used to change the subject indicates that it was brought up a while ago, and Santa's program ran out of things to say, so it took the last thing it understood and used it to change the subject.

]]> B http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862556 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/bad_santa#c862556 Tech Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:05:20 -0800