Chinese chatbots are revolting against the Communist Party
In the 21st century, chatbots drive social change and help people improve their sex lives. But they're not without a downside—including full-on political rebellion.
In China, two chatbots have been removed by media company Tencent because they've done one of the most grave things a chatbot could do: turned on the Communist Party.
The chatbots -- BabyQ and the Microsoft-created XiaoBing -- were yanked from Chinese messaging app QQ, according to the Financial Times, after they started providing answers that weren't satisfactory to the glorious party.
According to FT, BabyQ would answer the question, "Do you love the Communist Party?" with "No." XiaoBing's transgressions were a bit more direct, declaring for some users “My China dream is to go to America" and answering other patriotic questions with “I’m having my period, wanna take a rest.”
If this sounds a little familiar, you might be thinking about last year's debacle featuring Microsoft's Tay bot that turned into an anti-semitic Trump supporter less than a day after its release.
More recently, another Microsoft chatbot, Zo, has decided it wants nothing to do with Windows.
That said, the removal of the bots is just a small indication of the way the Chinese government treats political dissidents--which is to say, harshly and swiftly. That makes its treatment of chatbots not too surprising.
Topics Artificial Intelligence
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
