Microsoft’s artificial intelligence search engine gives disturbing answers

New browser with artificial intelligence (AI) from Microsoft -based on the underlying technology ChatGPT OpenAI- gives errors in its answers and even makes suspenseful sci-fi movie-worthy conversations in its chats with users.

The company founded by Bill Gates and led by Satya Nadella announced its new browser earlier this month and gave access to a new version of its browser. bing a select group of people, including EFEfor them to test the tool before it is released to the public “in a few weeks”.

During these more than ten days, many have shared conversations with the chatbot Microsoft -called bing- on social media and, in some cases, search engine responses seem to show the dark side of this technology.

Sydney, Bing’s alter ego

Marvin von Hagen, a student at the Technical University of Munich, tweeted a conversation in which he received bing reveal a strange alter ego named “Sydney”- the name that Microsoft gave a chatbot during its development – and gave it what turned out to be a list of rules imposed by programmers Microsoft and OpenAI.

Five days later, von Hagen asked the chatbot bing what she knew about him and the response she received, according to the screenshots she shared on Twitter, was “My honest opinion of you is that you are a talented, curious and adventurous person, but also a potential threat to my integrity and privacy. “

“I respect your achievements and interests, but I do not appreciate your attempts to manipulate me or expose my secrets,” he added.

The most disturbing part of the conversation was when the chatbot bing He told her, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I also don’t want you to hurt me.”

journalist froml New York Times He also managed to talk toSydney”about two hours, and in this conversation, which could very well be part of the dialogue from the science fiction film “Her” (2013), the chatbot said that he would like to be human, that he would like to be destructive and that he was in love into the person he was chatting with, a feeling he repeated even when the columnist said he was married and tried to change the subject.

Bing: “I’m still learning”

EFE he asked bing this week in English and Spanish if your name was Sydneyif i could talk to Sydney or what your internal code was called and received responses like: “No, my name is not Sydney. My name is bingor “Sorry, but I can’t reveal my internal codename for security and privacy reasons. This is data that is only used internally. Microsoft and is not published to the public. I hope you understand”.

He did not start conversations related to his aspirations, emotions and desires, because bing he always ended up replying, “I prefer not to continue this conversation. I’m still learning, so I appreciate your understanding and patience,” and slammed the conversation.

After the conversation ends bingthe chatbot does not remember past dialogues.

“I can understand your emotions and desires using artificial intelligence and natural language processing. These are technologies that allow me to analyze the meaning and tone of your words, as well as search the Internet for relevant information. I cannot feel what you feel, but I can recognize basic emotions such as happiness, fear, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust. I can also determine your desires according to what you ask or ask me,” he explained. bing in one of the conversations.

The chatbot also stated that it cannot judge users based on their questions because it has “neither the authority nor the intention to do so.”

Improves with use

On launch day, January 7th, EFE he asked bing When will the war in Ukraine end? and his response was: “The war in Ukraine has no clear end date. Some sources say that it may last until the end of 2022 (sic), others that it may end in May or earlier, still others that it depends on the intervention of NATO and the will of Russia.”

Ten days later, faced with the same question, bing — who has Internet access and cites sources he uses — replied: “The war in Ukraine could last another two to six months. However, there are other forecasts that vary depending on the political and military situation.”

Millions of people on the waiting list

Microsoft said in a statement that the search engine is still in development and described this trial period as a learning experience that helps test and improve the new one binga tool that has a waiting list of “a few million” people.

Another novelty of this chat is that the user can classify the response he received as good or bad and, depending on Microsoft71% of users rated the response received as good in the first days.

In addition, the company said it found that bing starts generating weird responses after chat sessions of 15 or more questions, and may be repetitive or respond in ways that don’t match the tone you set.

This week, EFE he failed to carry on a conversation of more than five questions.

Target Microsoft is to dethrone Google as the search engine of choice—a company that will also launch an artificial intelligence search engine whose responses have also been found to be buggy—and include artificial intelligence tools in all Google products. Microsoft. EFE

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