Microsoft has a new AI chatbot and it doesn't want to talk about Tay
Microsoft is experimenting with a new, tamer chatbot.
Months after the company's first chatbot Tay went viral for all the wrong reasons, Microsoft quietly rolled out a new bot that looks to be far less controversial than its predecessor.
Named Zo, the latest chatbot appeared on chat app Kik and is still "early access," according to Microsoft, though anyone with Kik can start messaging the bot now. In our limited testing, much of what the bot says is similar to the bland and sometimes nonsensical musings spouted by other bots.
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Of course, after the public relations nightmare that was Tay, it's understandable that Microsoft would be careful with its next chatbot.
Tay was originally created to help the company learn how to talk like a millennial. Unfortunately for them, the bot was soon overrun with trolls who taught the bot how to be a racist troll in about 12 hours.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Microsoft has apparently taken great pains to preemptively avoid the problem it had with Tay. In fact, the bot seems to be trained to avoid any question about the previous bot.
When I asked Zo what happened to Tay, the bot claimed ignorance, responding “I think you’re talking about another ai that I’m not too familiar with… sry." Another time, Zo claimed not to know anything about Tay at all.
In fact, Zo is unwilling to discuss a number of even vaguely controversial topics. The bot seems avoids anything related to politics and had a defensive answer at the ready when I asked if Zo was racist like Tay, saying "whoa everyone should be treated equal no matter what... didn't mean to suggest otherwise."
It's not clear whether Microsoft has bigger plans yet for Zo, which for now is only available on Kik.
Topics Microsoft
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
